Second Time Around
by Phoenix Lumen
Summary: It had been an increasingly monotonous day, and he was growing ever increasingly bored. The newest visitors had just been trying to stay alive when they'd arrived. Now things have been set in motion that cannot be undone. ON HIATUS
1. The Entrance

Disclaimer: Welcome all those who have expressed an interest in this piece of fiction. Stargate, and anything related to it, belong to MGM and company. However, any names you don't recognise come from my own (brilliant) mind, but I can't tell you any of the names because I don't want to spoil the story.

Read on, if you dare, to find out more.

John Sheppard was bored, which never ended up being a good thing for anybody, the scientists who liked to pester everyone else, the marines who complained they had nothing to do, (he made them help Kavanaugh), and Rodney, who was so easy to annoy sometimes, but every once in a while, Rodney's acerbic wit would come into play, and he would be bored no more.

The downside to annoying Rodney was that this was the man who knew how to manipulate the Atlantian systems _without _using his gene, so every once in a while, John ended up with his bedroom covered in the foam suppressant the Atlantians had used to put out fires.

Good side – once it dried, nothing ended up being damaged, and it dried remarkably quickly. Downside – once it dried, nothing ended up being damaged, and it dried remarkably quickly, therefore, no evidence of Rodney using the suppressant could be found. Trying to discover that it was Rodney who had set of the foam in the first place through the computer was equally as hard, because the man knew how to cover his tracks.

But, suffice to say, John Sheppard was bored out of his mind.

Why on Earth, well Atlantis really, did Elizabeth expect him to listen to all of this scientific mumbo-jumbo? It wasn't like he understood any of it. Math, yes. Science, exceptionally big no-no.

He wished to be just about anywhere but briefing room two at that moment.

A few seconds passed. His eyes closed momentarily. Apparently no shooting stars were firing at that moment, and no Vengeance Demons were in the area. Damn!

His fingers began tapping out a beat on the surface of the table in front of him. One, two, three, four, lather, rinse, repeat. He could feel Elizabeth's stare trying to obliterate him on the spot. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for her, she hadn't gained that super power since the last meeting they'd had to have, which had been earlier that morning, where he'd pretty much done the exact same thing. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Becoming bored with the beat alone, he began to rotate the chair side to side slightly, which began to squeak as the turns became longer.

It wasn't just Elizabeth looking at him now, he caught a few glances from those who had been unfortunate enough to sit beside him. Hey, even he knew he was a pain to sit next to in meetings!

He knew they wouldn't say anything though, after all, he was Major Sheppard, head of the military contingent on Atlantis. All the science geeks knew that if they annoyed him, he passed on the annoyance to his underlings, a.k.a. he ordered them to help out the science geeks. This more often than not, resulted in broken feelings, broken beakers/vials/other important scientific glassware, and completely destroyed experiments.

So, by following the formula: annoying Sheppard annoyed scientists destroyed experiments; leaving Sheppard alone happy scientists finished experiments. Everyone won out when they left Sheppard alone.

Looking at Elizabeth, he saw her stare had been upgraded to a glare, and barely caught the wince before it managed to show itself upon his face. He downgraded the now frantic tapping to a slow, steady beat, and the sweeping chair slowed down and ceased its wide, expansive movements. The ultra-hot death-glare downgraded to just a regular death-glare.

They seemed to be having more and more meetings recently, about how their food stocks were dwindling, about how the latest search for a planet with a ZPM had failed, and everyone was getting increasingly more bored by the monotony of saying the same thing over and over again. He just wanted something exciting to happen.

"Off world activation!" Oh joy!

Peter's voice came over the radio, and as the room was remarkably close to the control room, he also heard it over what passed as the Ancients version of a tannoy. Even though he was one of the furthest from the door, he was the first one out, jogging across the walkway outside Elizabeth's office to the control room, his chair spinning rapidly in his wake.

By the time he entered the control room, five out of the standard seven chevrons were locked, and the sixth was circling the gate.

Reaching Peter's workstation, he leaned over Peter's shoulder, checking the panels, what little he understood of the scientific Ancient terminology, and then he remembered, "We don't have any teams out right now! Make sure the shield is up!"

Peter, the appointed Gatekeeper for this shift, nodded, and the golden iris, the only thing separating Atlantis from all her potential invaders, was raised.

He heard McKay, Ford, Teyla, and Elizabeth come up behind him, and spared a moment to ask them, though mainly Rodney, "What took you so long?"

Through the open space before him, (there were no barriers between the control room and the rails), he could see the Marines surrounding the embarkation area, just in case the shield failed, which hadn't happened yet, but you know what happens when things get old, they tend to break more easily.

Everyone in the control room who had nothing to do, which seemed to increase by the second, watched the gate and its shield, and those who had overheard Sheppard's announcement were seen removing handguns from beneath desks. Wow, they're learning!

They were all noticeably shocked when a group of children came through the barrier, some wounded, most not. He vaguely heard a muffled call for Beckett and a med-team to head for the control room.

The children's clothes seemed to be mainly Athosian, although he could definitely see some Earth materials and designs amongst the bunch, which was extremely perplexing, as a) all the Athosians (barring Teyla) were on the mainland, (a quick side glance to Teyla and her responding shake of the head confirmed that thought), and b) they were the only people from Earth in the Pegasus galaxy right now.

Various crates and boxes on wheels of all shapes and sizes came sliding through the gate, and equally the barrier, coming to a halt when they hit the wall, and began creating a line of containers all the way back to the gate.

Those who were able, excluding one or two who were beginning to perform some sort of first-aid on the wounded, managed to stack some of the crates and boxes on top of each other, so that there was room for the seemingly constant flow of containers.

A few extra large, military issue, green duffle bags came flying through the gate, to crash land at the feet of a young wiry teenager with extremely long dark green hair. He lifted one of the bags onto his shoulder but dragged the other heavy looking bag away to the wall as though they were full of feathers, proving that looks can be deceiving, though whether it was the bags or the boys looks that were deceiving was debatable. Another teenage boy came and retrieved the other two, although he had to drag both of them.

A few more older children, teenagers really, came through with a man who looked no older than Ford, who then proceeded to walk to the nearest wall, and wave his hand over a small section of it.

Sheppard, like everyone else, had probably walked past that section dozens, if not hundreds of times, and at least twice a day, and nothing had ever happened or been found by anyone!

So, his shock was further increased when the panel seemed to fold away into the wall and the man pulled out a medium-sized container from the space revealed.

It was silvery-blue, typical of the Ancients, covered in the scripts of the Ancients, although he couldn't even begin to decipher it at this distance. A little trick he'd been working on in his spare time, but was definitely keeping to himself. He was already called on enough by the scientist just for his gene, he couldn't bear to imagine what would happen if they found out about his little secret.

He heard McKay, who was standing to his left; mutter under his breath, "I didn't know that was there!"

John managed to work his way through the shock of the still appearing children, (though most were teenagers now), his (ever so) little fear about McKay finding out about his secret, and the fold-away panel, to think to himself, "WOW, something's wrong with the resident genius/know-it-all! Someone call a medic, I think McKay's going to have a heart attack! Better yet, call the press, the papers will all sell out in five minutes!" He could see the headlines now, 'McKay Knows Nothing!', or 'Someone Knows Something McKay Doesn't!' "

The man who had removed the container opened it, again by some hand motion, removed what looked like a life-signs detector and some sort of pen-like instrument, and proceeded to treat a little girl who had a large gash across her right arm.

A mumble from Ford, standing to his right but behind Elizabeth, earned a small scoff, as he had distinctly heard, "Cool, we got ourselves a medical tricorder!" Another Fordism, no, wait! That one was from Star Trek. _Ford watched Star Trek?_

His attention was recaptured as before his eyes, the wound sealed but the blood remained, leading the girl to use her sleeve to scrub away at where the wound had once been. The man moved away and began treating someone John couldn't see from this angle.

"Some sort of dermal regenerator?" Ford, again, _he watched Star Trek?_

More people were coming through the gate some as old as the man, but most were much smaller than him, and all were toting large bulging duffle bags, or had jam packed backpacks hanging off one shoulder.

All of them were wounded in some manner, cuts and bruises seemed to be the majority, although he thought he could see a broken arm there for a second before the little boy it belonged to was found by the man who had healed the wound earlier.

Two more men came though, dragging a man and a woman, the man completely unconscious, although the woman was starting to move a bit. They were both pulled over to a nearby wall; the two who had pulled them collapsing next to them, sweat trickling down their faces and necks.

After the man had caught his breath, he tried to shout something, but he obviously didn't have the strength. A tall, gangly looking preteen standing nearby watching over a small silver haired girl as she was being healed obviously heard her, as he immediately bellowed, with a strength that was well hidden, "Clear the embarkation area! Prep for blasts!"

The area pretty much cleared in a second, miscellaneous crates that hadn't been moved now seemed to magically appear in front of the two unconscious people, forming a barrier of sorts, but the containers which had arrived earlier had already been stacked and loaded into defensive positions. He also noticed that a large majority of the marines were protected as well, though whether that was intentional or accidental he didn't know.

Another person came through the gate, wearing a military uniform, with (were those silver eagles on the jacket?), a P90 attached to his flack jacket, and a Wraith stun weapon in his right hand.

He held his left wrist up to his mouth, where he shouted through a small round device attached to a leather bracelet, "Disengage wormhole!"

There was movement behind him as a Wraith came flying through the barrier, prior to the wormhole disengaging. The soldiers around the room immediately opened fire, the sound covering the small screams and yelps that came from the newcomers.

Yeah, that much firepower will drop that sucker in no time. Right?

It was the marines and everyone that were baffled when the weapons had no effect.

The newest visitor just turned around, and fired both the P90 and the Wraith stun weapon. The Wraith flew back through the gates opening, towards the wall behind the gate, and smashed into it, before sliding down to collapse face up on the floor, leaving series of spider-web indents where his body had impacted.

The male speed walked up to the Wraith, and in two quick movements, had smashed the locater beacon on it's wrist with the heel of his boot and had drawn the dark-bladed knife from a sheath on his left thigh.

"For my Ancestors," (you could tell Ancestors was supposed to be written with a capital letter), were the only words he spoke as the knife was speedily sheathed in the Wraith's left eye, going straight to the brain, swiftly removed, jabbed into the eye, removed once more, and thrust into the Wraith's chest.

John, and everyone around him, could only watch as the Wraith's body seemed to collapse in on itself, leaving only a pile of ash.

The only time he'd seem something like that had been when he'd been forced to watch "Interview With A Vampire" with one of his girlfriends, the part where Louis touches the little girls body after she'd been fried by the sun in that death chamber.

He'd thought that things like that could only happen in the movies. Guess not.


	2. Healing and Recognision

DISCLAIMER: see chapter one.

The last (seemingly) human to arrive in Atlantis stood back from the pile of Wraith ash and approached a woman with shoulder length black hair who was attempting to check over a small boy who had received lots of cuts all over his face when a glass panel had exploded to the side of him, sheathing his knife on the way.

As though feeling his approach, both the boy and the woman looked up to his face, his dark red hair starting to plaster itself to his forehead from all the sweat. The ruby coloured eyes of Rean glanced up at him, and he could see that some of the cuts, including the one that ran across the front of his face from his forehead to his cheek and over his left eye, had dust and small bits of metal in them, and would become infected if the cuts didn't get cleaned and healed soon.

"Jet, hey," she said, relief coating her voice that some sort of back-up had arrived.

"Hey Jet, wow, you sure showed that Wraith who was boss, didn't you?" Rean asked, anxious to postpone or altogether avoid the check over of his cuts; although to his knowledge no-one had ever successfully avoided a check over by anyone wielding the almighty power of the title Assistant Nurse, Nurse, or Doctor, but think of the recognition he would get for being the first.

Jet could sense that his girlfriend was becoming increasingly annoyed with Rean's constant attempts to escape her checking his wounds, and thusly the inevitable, because she'd never let anyone escape one of her check overs before and she wasn't going to start now.

He decided that trying to diffuse the situation would be the best course of action at the moment, and preventing Mount Hex from exploding would be saving all the children around them from the angry torrent of words that he knew would escape. Including those that most definitely were not suited to a PG-13 audience!

He swiftly made his way over to the pair, a wave of his hand being his greeting to both. "Hey Rean. I sure did, didn't I? You do know that the quicker you let Hex check you over then the quicker you can go, right?" Jet asked Rean. He could almost physically feel Hex's relief that the boy had stood still to contemplate the question.

Jet leant over to whisper in Rean's ear, "I'll even try to find you some of those sweets you like, but don't let on that I said that, okay. Hex would kill me!"

"Is that true?" Rean asked Hex, the blonde hair that normally covered his eyes becoming coated with blood as he swung his head around to look at Hex. He had been asking about the whole 'she'll kill me' thing, but Hex hadn't heard that bit, so she responded to what Jet had said. She didn't see Jet sharply shaking his head, or the hand making a slashing motion across his neck.

"Of course it is Rean, got to make sure everyone is okay, and that includes you!" Hex stated, giving Rean a little poke in the chest to emphasise the point.

She hadn't really answered his question, but Rean had seen Jet's movements, even if she hadn't and decided to play along. "Check me over then!" Rean nearly shouted, standing up straight with his head facing towards Hex, making it easier for her to check over the cuts on his face.

There went the recognition as it turned around and walked away from him, waving bye-bye, but he could almost taste the sharp, sourness of the sherbet drops already.

As Jet walked away, he felt Hex's gaze upon his back. He looked back to see her nod to him, her brown eyes shining with gratitude.

Jet started to make his journey around the room, the room that was becoming ever increasingly familiar, checking over some of those who were wounded, and then started to make his way over to the crates and containers to make sure they had everything they would need. He started to make his way back to Hex, retrieving along the way a dermal regenerator from Daemon, Hex's younger brother, who had been the one to remove the med-kit from behind the panel.

On his way back to Hex, he stopped to heal Aradne, a six-year-old girl with red hair, sky-blue eyes, and a light dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks, as she had been hit by flying shrapnel across her left arm prior to entering the gate from their side, and even though the cuts were relatively light and should have clotted quickly with the pressure that another child was putting on a towel that was wrapped around her arm, she had always had trouble with her blood and the stain on the towel was starting to increase dramatically.

Dante, another six-year-old with red hair, but with emerald-green eyes had been shot in the arm by a Wraith who had gotten hold of handgun. Pausing to remove the bullet then heal the wound, he gave the boy a little noogie and a lot of praise, because he hadn't complained once about being shot, and then continued on his path towards Hex.

When he reached Hex, he found her in the process of healing Rean's wounds with a device similar to his. It took longer for her to heal Rean's wounds because she wasn't as adept as many of the others at her healing skills.

He waited at her side, and started to look at his surroundings more closely. The grim look that had been on his face for the past week lessoned, as he started to recognise the room from several pictures that had been in his parents possession before they had been blown up.

They couldn't be here, it shouldn't be possible. But it seemed somehow they were.

He was back in Atlantis.


	3. Hex and Jet: The Beginning

Disclaimer: see chapter one. This chapter is a bit of background for what's to come.

Hex glanced out of the corner of her eye as Jet walked towards her. He still had the P90 on his person, but the Wraith weapon had been abandoned beside the gate seconds earlier.

The military clothes really suited him. The cut suited his frame, and his name, (nickname really, but they could no longer refer to each other by their 'real' names, as their real names were so well known), was placed across the left pocket on his jacket, a picture of a jet sewn on beneath it.

She distinctly remembered sewing it on for him years ago, when he'd come up to her with his brown eyes set puppy-dog style, figuratively, and nearly literally, begging her to sew it onto his jacket for him.

She couldn't resist that look, she didn't know any female that had been able to, (including his own mother!), so she sat down in her room, with him lying on his back across her bed, eyes shut, and sewed it onto his jacket.

It had been absolutely nerve-wracking having him there, she recollected, as she checked to see how far along Rean's healing was coming. About halfway, good for the device she was using, and even better considering that she hadn't even passed the mandatory first-aid requirement, (she been off by two points.)

She continued to reminisce. She'd had the biggest crush on him for nearly two years, and he hadn't seem to notice her. She remembered calling him the blindest fly-boy in centuries.

Well, he had noticed her, but not in the way she'd wanted him to. She was, as she recalled, "another little sister." It had been gut wrenching hearing him say _that._

She recalled that after he'd told her that and left the lounge, she'd ran straight to her bedroom, bumping into people in the corridors, not bothering to apologise, barely managing to hold back the tears that had constantly threatened to drop. She'd made it to her room, locked her door, and disabled her comm. system before the tears finally burst from behind the shattering dam.

But, like the brother he was, constantly on the lookout for his sister, even if she was older than him, Daemon had seen her leave the room, and along with Micky, his best friend, who felt the Hex was the older sister he'd never gotten, (even though he was older than her, but she behaved older than all of them), had come to see what had happened to the recently named Hurricane Hex, after her mom had come into her bedroom and said that it looked like a hurricane had blown in.

She remembered that they'd been very surprised to find her door locked and the comm system disabled, as she normally would have left it open because she was such a den mother, a trait from her mother, her door open to all who needed to see her. But Micky, being a certified genius, (it was in a gold frame and hung from one of his bedroom walls), like his father, (who had his hung in his office), had taken a few seconds to open the door, and the pair had gained entrance.

They'd just stopped still at seeing her bawling her eyes out, sobbing into her emerald green coloured pillow, shocked that Mount Hex, who'd always seemed to be the one you ran crying to when you were scared or hurt, the forever stalwart and true that had always stood tall and proud, was the one crying this time.

She'd never cried, not even when they were younger and she'd fallen over and broken her leg, or when they'd had their inoculations, (bloody needles), or even when she was taken by the Wraith to be held for ransom when she was nine-years-old, which had been stupid considering what she did, (she was summarily returned early the next day, sixteen hours after her abduction, none the worse.)

Daemon and Micky had immediately approached her, lay down on either side of her on the bed, and enveloped her in such a hug that she felt the love they had for her. They just lay there, letting their love for her surround her, (_literally_ letting her feel their love for her by using the Atlantian gene to allow her access to their minds), and allowed her to finish her crying before asking her what was wrong.

Hex, being the emotional wreck that she currently was, had just blurted out everything, her crush on Jet, how she hated him teasing her, and how he'd called her "another little sister".

Even though Jet, Daemon, and Micky were the best of friends, Daemon and Micky had immediately offered to go beat the living daylights out of Jet, or at least get him to realise that she wasn't his "little sister".

Hex had instantaneously retorted that if they dared do anything, she'd beat seven kinds of 'the morning after' out of them, ranging from light bruises, to the full blown; scratches across their bodies, broken bones, hangovers, and the 'oh my god, why the hell did we do to piss her off _this_ much.'

Paling as she'd finished, they'd immediately agreed.

Evidently they'd crossed their fingers or toes, hadn't believed she'd go through with it, or had thought the adults would stop her before she got too far, because she later found out that they'd totally, utterly, and completely stopped being friends with him.

Ignoring him, not doing work with him, or going for target practice at the weapons range with him, or even flying in the same shuttle with him on those previously much anticipated visits to the mainland.

Whenever she'd entered the room, the boys had appeared perfectly amiable towards Jet, but she'd been so busy trying to act normal around Jet that she'd never noticed just how polite they were being towards him.

That had occurred a month before the 'sewing date', as some of her friends now called it.

The boy's behaviour had been noticed by the others and by the adults, (a.k.a. everyone except Hex and the smaller children), who had questioned Jet, Daemon, and Micky, asking what was wrong. Jet had apparently been so confused that his best friends had suddenly turned their backs on him, and he'd constantly tried to regain their friendship. What had bewildered everyone was that the boys firmly refused, going as far as to turn around and leave if they'd entered a room and saw Jet there.

When Daemon and Micky were asked why they were doing this, they had kept responding that Jet knew, and that they should ask him. Everything was going full circle.

Then, luckily for them, Jinto had come over from the mainland to visit everyone, and had noticed the tension around Atlantis. In under a day, he'd understood completely what was wrong; something that no one else had even managed to come close to in nearly two years. He instantly, (or near enough), knew that she liked Jet, that Jet had offended me by calling me his "little sister", and that Daemon and Micky were standing up for my honour. It was so simple; everyone wondered how they could have missed it.

I, of course, didn't know at this point that anyone besides Daemon and Micky knew that I had liked Jet.

Afterwards, I was told that they'd, (meaning everyone), had got Jet, sat him down, and told him. As I heard, he went so pale he nearly matched the pure white shirt he was wearing. He'd told them that he liked me, but thought that I thought of him as a brother, and so was trying to put up a defensive shield around his emotions and feelings by trying to firmly establish our 'relationship'.

Apparently, I was that good at hiding my emotions, especially from him. Figures. The one guy I wanted to break the barriers was the one guy trying to keep them there and add extra layers to them.

I, of course, didn't know that he knew.

Days later, I was told that whilst I was asleep, they'd all had a big meeting as to what they needed to do to get me to see that he liked me. Various ideas were thought up and consequently shot down, and come dawn, no one had thought of a good one.

It wasn't until Jinto had seen Jet's jacket that he asked why there were no pictures upon it, like everyone else's. Brand labels hadn't really caught on in the Pegasus galaxy, except on Atlantis, where it seemed that everyone had some sort of image on their clothes. Apparently, this had given Shadow an idea.

Shadow had run back to her room, and from it, retrieved a fabric badge of a jet, which could be appliquéd onto clothes. She had been going to put it on a waterproof backpack she'd designed for his birthday, but she was giving it up for a nobler cause.

"Ask her to put this on your jacket, and then, when she least expects it, snog her!"

It was a great idea, it was a _brilliant _idea. No one could come up with a better one

It would have been an excellent idea…

………

……….

...if not for the idiocy of man. Or boy. And especially one in particular.

She'd finished sewing it on, her fingers having been pricked numerous times. She'd stood up and walked over to the bed, thinking about what to say, the jacket in her hands, her eyes firmly stuck on the jacket.

Her hands outstretched to hand back the jacket; she started to say, "Here you go Jet. Hope its O.K. Are you hungry?"

At least she'd been planning on asking him if he wanted something to eat, but before she could, he pulled her down on top of him, spinning quickly so that she ended up with her back on the bed, and placed his hands on either side of her head. She managed to get the first syllable of "What?" out before his eyes, full of lust, consumed her and he'd pulled her completely unresisting head down and placed his lips on top of hers.

Fireworks, flashing, Technicolour lights, the whole nine yards. She'd been waiting _years_ for this.

It had been a few minutes later when he'd come up for air. Her mind had been pleasantly blank with mind numbing pleasure, but she heard one word.

"Sorry".

Her thoughts took an unpleasant turn. _'Sorry. He was SORRY!'_

"SORRY!" she yelled at him, before punching him across the jaw, knocking him flat onto the floor.

Mount Hex had erupted.

Whilst he'd lain there shocked, she'd left her room, and gone to the mess hall where it seemed that nearly everyone was gathered.

"Well, how'd it go?" Mom asked me.

_She knew?_

"You knew?" I'd managed to ask in a voice that barely contained my rage. She was completely and totally oblivious. She really was a blond bimbo, maybe all that bleach had penetrated her skull and had gone straight to her brain. 'Thank the Lords I'm not' flashed briefly across her mind.

"HEX!" Jet's voice came through the halls and corridors, getting louder as he came closer. "HEX!"

Everyone around Hex looked at each other as her darkening eyes seemed to gain a murderous quality.

She looked at a nearby dinner setting, and seeing a knife, picked it up, weighed it in her left hand, then her right, and began slashing it in the air.

"Kathleen, honey, what are you doing?" Mom asked, placing her hand on my left shoulder. She seemed to have silently been voted the spokesperson for the group. Or she could have just been an interfering busybody. Lords above know she'd had enough practice.

"Wondering how much pain I can cause Jet when I castrate him and rip out his heart" she calmly replied.

At that moment, Jet ran through the doors and straight at Hex. Her mom barely managed to get the knife off her, receiving only a slight nick on her arm, no worse than a paper-cut really, before Hex decided to swing a punch at him instead.

Flat out on the floor, she gave him a swift kick to the ribs, and stepped onto his stomach, then on to the floor the other side of him, walked over to Jinto, grabbed him by the arms, and calmly stated to the shocked audience that she needed a _decent_ sparing partner. One that didn't fall when he'd simply been winded.

She never found out what happened between the times she left and the time she returned to her room, but when she got back to her room, everything had changed.

Candles lay around the room, a meal for two lay upon her desk, which had been dragged into the centre of the room, and flowers of all shapes and sizes lay in vases around the room. Red petals adorned her bed, like a second sheet. Music played faintly in the background. The mood of the room was very sensual and warm, her question however, was as cold as ice.

"What do you want?" Her eyes narrowed at his appearance from her bathroom. He was dressed very sexily, she had to admit it, the silvery/blue shirt set off his eyes spectacularly, dark blue denim jeans plastered to him like a second skin. He was bare foot, and for some reason, that seemed more sexy than anything else. Weird.

"To apologise." It was said with such defeat that I nearly submitted. However I remembered earlier just in time.

"You already did, earlier, remember. Right after that kiss." She attempted to gain some of the frostiness back in her voice, but with him looking like that, she just couldn't. She found the drink that was supposed to accompany the meal on her desk, and quickly swallowed a gulp. Perfectly cold, to soothe her throat, hopefully it might soothe her heart as well.

She could hear him walk across her carpet towards, across the animal skin rug that he'd killed for her the year before, and his arms wrapped around her middle, his head pointing inwards and resting on her shoulder, and when he started to speak, she could feel the vibrations against her neck.

"I wasn't apologising for that." Lords above, if he kept those vibrations going, he could apologise for anything, the deaths of the Ancients, the resurrection of the Wraith, the flooding of the south-east pier, just as long as he kept talking.

"What," she started to ask breathlessly, "were you apologising for then?" Oh God, her knees were too weak, she was going to fall. She collapsed backwards into his arms, and he gathered her up and placed her on the bed and as he leaned over her, his eyes darkening from lust, he stated,

"Not doing this sooner."

As you can probably guess, they'd went all the way that night, and the meal had lain on the desk until the early morning when they'd both gotten hungry.

A constant beeping drew her out of her thoughts, as the beeping meant that the device had finished working, and Rean was fully healed.

_**Authors Note : Many thanks to PurpleYin for reviewing my story. I managed to create and type this chapter up in less than an hour and a half after I received the return e-mail. Reviews are welcome, both the good and the bad!**_

_**If there's anyone out there who believes that they could beta a story such as this, just write me!**_

Livy1213: All of those questions **will** be answered in future chapters.


	4. Gunfire

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

Children. There were teenagers and children, was the silent general consensus. Not a one of them could be a day older than Ford, who was by far the youngest member of the Expedition team. Not even the last to arrive through the gate looked older than Ford, and Ford was twenty-five. Who out of all of them could shoot, could kill a child?

But when the Wraith had collapsed in on itself, one of the soldiers had gotten a little jumpy and fired at the 'Wraith Slayer' as he, and no doubt others called the boy.

_The bullet just went straight through him_. The bullet didn't even embed itself in the wall, it was though it had _never been fired_.

The shock of everyone surrounding him was extremely noticeable, and kind of noisy considering the silent atmosphere that had been present but ten seconds ago.

He could already hear McKay's murmurings that such a thing defied the laws of physics, that all his precious laws had just been thrown out the window and through that window he could now see blue pigs with white feathery wings flying backwards.

He nearly almost heard the cogs in Elizabeth's head turning as she began questioning to herself as to how this would affect Atlantis' security if people could just walk through the shield and couldn't even be shot by their weapons, the two things they had that prevented unwanted Stargate travellers.

Everyone throughout the room stood still, though small amounts of muttering were heard hear and there, as the Wraith Slayer approached a black-haired woman who was attempting to keep a small blonde-haired boy with cuts on his face still.

The whole lot of them listened, without guilt, to the conversation between the two, and he overheard Teyla asking Elizabeth if the boy reminded her of someone. He could see Elizabeth nod out of the corner of his eye, and said that to her, it was his voice that sounded extremely familiar.

As the man, Jet he remembered the girl had called him, walked away, he thought he could recognise him as well, the way he walked, how the P90 was slung across his front. He just looked and sounded very recognisable. Weird.

They all watched as he checked over the many containers and crates and counted them, and listened to him ask another man, Daemon he called him, for a dermal regenerator. Guess Ford was right.

He heard McKay say that must be what Jet had used earlier to heal the little girls arm. Suppose I was the only one to hear Ford then.

All of them saw him heal two red-haired children as he started to make his way back to the woman.

Everyone gazed at him as he stood guard over the woman and surveyed the room. They saw the dark look on his face lessen and watched as the small blonde-haired boy, Rean they had called him, leave, as the two held a conversation.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed as Teyla gained a contemplating look upon her face, as she searched the room, surveying its occupants.

Most of the people watching jumped slightly as the girl suddenly hugged the boy, her arms enveloping him, his head facing her neck.

Weapons from the guards had risen again, but an abrupt hand movement from John had them lowering their guns.

He heard Teyla ask, "How could this be?" as she walked forward, onto the balcony as though to get a better look, and he could hear Peter and Elizabeth call for her in quiet voices to come back. Obviously Teyla now recognised him, but wasn't sharing with the class. Spoil sport.

Everyone once again froze as the man looked up, over the girl's shoulder and spotted Teyla.

They saw his hand move towards the P90 across his front as he moved it while he broke apart from the hug. He asked the woman, whilst jerking his head towards Teyla, who she was.

But bafflement seemed to be the standard of the hour for the Atlantis team, as the woman turned around, searched the room and the balcony, and calmly announced that there was no-one there.


	5. Friendly Chatter and Casualty Reports

Disclaimer: see chapter one

During the time Hex had spent remembering how love had found her, the device had finished healing Rean's wounds. By now, Jet was stood behind her, and to the left. As Jet looked around the room, he could feel the weight upon his shoulders lift a little, and the grimace on his face lessen, as he recognised it from several pictures that had been in his parents possession before they had been blown up.

He was back in Atlantis. It had been years. Literally.

He waited patiently until Hex had made sure all the wounds Rean had suffered had been healed and Rean had left before asking her, "Why are we back in Atlantis? Weren't we headed to the Delta Base? And who fixed it all?"

He could feel her tense up slightly, telling him from experience that she was either a) going to be giving him some bad news, or b) was hiding something very important.

Hex told Jet, "The Doc told me before Uncle Rodney was killed, he had given orders that on this date, at a specific time, we were to open the gate, 'come rain or shine'. I didn't manage to see what co-ordinates Doc put in. Before he finished informing me where we were going, he was hit by falling rubble. The last words he spoke to me were 'homeward bound'. Do you know what he meant?"

Jet's grin had faded slightly, but it was still there.

"It's kinda obvious, he meant we were going home," Jet managed to say. He could sense her confusion at that sentence, since nearly all of them remembered growing up in Atlantis, so that was their home, right? What he didn't get was why everything appeared to be in such pristine condition.

The last time he'd seen Atlantis; the walls had been crumbling down around him, and the dead bodies of both Wraith and human, though many more human corpses than Wraith, had lain strewn all over the debarkation area.

Any of the walls still standing had been scorched black from energy burns with slashes gouged deep into the walls, had bullet holes every few inches, been sliced apart by shrapnel or coated in blood patterns of various shapes and sizes.

He'd only been a Lieutenant then, but it seemed like a life-time ago, and he knew that any of them who seen that disaster, who had lost loved ones, would never forget that horrific sight.

Shaking his head slightly, as though to shake the very memory from his head, he started to inform Hex of his casualty report. It wasn't that she was of a higher rank than him, in fact she was of a rank below him, but one of the casualties was particularly close to her. "We lost Nessie and Tony, they barely managed to give me enough time to boost the force-shield for a few minutes to get everyone we could out, but by the time I'd gotten to the control room, both of their teams were dead, and the Wraith were storming the lower levels. The gate was set for voice deactivation. So I left."

Hex could feel the pain at having to abandon his big brother and his brother's fiancé, her older sister, just when the chance for salvation had arrived. She knew he would be placing their deaths on his hands, and the 'what ifs' would now be filling his head. 'What if I'd run faster?' or 'What if the shield had been at full strength?' She knew that for him, the possibilities would be endless.

She tried to send peaceful thoughts down the link she had towards him, but he was shielded more tightly that the food stores at the Beta Base were from a McKay.

She spoke aloud now. "I don't think any of the children are missing. We know Cas was shot, but Wraith stunners hit Micky and Z before they reached the gate. Unlucky family, hey? Some of the others managed to get them though. Quite a few of the kids got hit by shrapnel, and have suffered minor wounds. A few of us Dragons are treating them, but Rean was the worst off. Jet," she paused briefly, looking to the floor before looking up directly at his eyes, " you're the oldest of us all now. We need you."

Her anger at everything, the Wraith, and Jet blocking her when he never had before suddenly overwhelmed her, and in a burst of rage, she hugged him tightly, shaking him slightly, and harshly whispered, so no-one else would hear, "We shouldn't have been involved in this war! None of us should have been!" It was the only thing she could think of to say.

He turned his head towards her neck, and softly mumbled, "You're right."

A few moments respite, where all that existed was the two of them. Then suddenly, Jet could hear harsh and relatively loud whispers above him, and looking up, he could see a woman with red hair walk out onto the balcony. He knew that he knew her, but didn't know from where.

His hand moved to his front, reaching for his P90, swinging it up to eye level, and moved back from Hex so that if he had to fire, she wouldn't get hit. He asked Hex, whilst jerking his head up towards the balcony, who she was.

He quirked his eyebrow though, and gained a slightly puzzled look upon his face, similar to his father's, he had once been told, he vaguely recalled, when Hex calmly informed him, after she had turned around and performed a cursory inspection of the balcony, that there was no-one there.


	6. First Orders and the Long Haired Idiot

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

Jet lowered the P90, but still holding it in his grip, asked her again if she saw anything. He could see the puzzlement cross her face, but again, she looked around, and turned back, and told him, once more, that there was no one there.

Jet was really confused now. How could he see the woman when Hex couldn't? Could he see the dead now, or was he seeing the past? Maybe they were intruders using some sort of stealth technology? But then again, why was it that only he could see the woman? He didn't really want to know the answer, he thought to himself, as he yawned slightly.

Other figures were appearing to him now. A guard over to his left, two to his far right. One was standing behind a container barely ten feet away from him. Their weapons were lowered, but Jet wasn't going to lower his until…

He saw Luke, Hex's youngest brother dart through the body of one of the soldiers, chasing after a runaway five year old.. The guard jumped and shuddered, and one of his hands seemed to pat over his body as though to reassure himself that he was still alive. The guard's face was pasty white, but Luke and the child were none the worse for wear.

He lowered the P90 now, his hand only loosely holding the weapon.

Hex was starting to pull herself together, he was aware of it, despite the shields he had put up, as they were designed to stop anything from coming in, only when he didn't want it.

She asked him, "What are we doing for tonight? We need a place large enough for everyone."

He thought the answer was kind of obvious, or at least it was to him. "Well," he drawled slightly, "if this **_is_** Atlantis", (the if was heavily emphasised, Hex could tell), the Pit and the Den should still be here. So we go there."

As Hex blushed slightly, she knew she should have known that, she was just having a blonde moment (even if she was raven haired). She asked him if all the crates had gotten through. She had been too preoccupied with healing Rean's wounds to count the crates. If they were damaged or missing… she didn't want to know the repercussions.

"If there were supposed to be fifty crates, then there were fifty crates." Jet had thought about teasing her, telling her that there were fewer crates than there were, but decided that she too worked up at the moment. Even **_he_** didn't want to deal with an erupting Mount Hex.

"Boxes?" she asked. "Forty-nine, of all shapes and sizes," he replied.

Jet started to get into command mode. He could almost hear the pathways shift from 'cool and calm' to 'cool, calm, and in the mood to give orders'.

There wasn't that much of a difference, he silently mused.

"Can you get Daemon and tell him to grab Micky and get him ready to go? I'll get Z, she's starting to wake up, I see, and could you get Marcus to carry Cas to the Pit?"

That was the difference between Jet and the other military people she'd heard and seen, Hex pondered, as she walked over to her slightly younger brother. Jet didn't give orders, he asked questions of people, asked if they wouldn't mind doing something for him, but everyone did them anyway. He was just that well liked and looked up to. She didn't think he even knew how much. Jet was a natural born leader, just like his parents.

Jet looked about the room as Hex walked away. His grip on the P90 increased, even though he didn't raise it, as he saw more people join the others on the balcony. A long-haired man with glasses, stood briefly on the balcony and exchanged some apparently heated words with a few of the others up there, before turning to walk down the main stairs, a scowl set firmly on his face, as though to reprimand him.

Just try, tough guy, he thought to himself, as the man walked up to him, his index finger on his right hand pointed, with the hand flailing about in the air, he could partially hear the man's complaints.

"Absurd." Yeah, well I think you're absurd buddy.

He could hear more now, though he wasn't sure he wanted to listen to it exactly.

"Can't be there." Well, I'm here mate, not quite sure how long I'm staying for though, let me crunch a few numbers, I'll get back to you with the dates later.

The P90 was now slowly being raised again, but soon after he dropped it. Shooting the smarmy git wasn't worth the ammo.

"Has to be a hologram." Well _ex**cuse**_ me! I'm not a bunch of photons, you pig-headed idiot, and at least I have manners, so stop waving your finger in the air like a conductor.

This was the last one Jet heard for quite some time, because as the man approached, Jet side-stepped him, punched him in the gut, and hit him on the back of the head with his tightly clenched fist.

Jet looked around the room sharply. Good, no one had seen his actions, with what he was sure to be, at least to them, thin air.

He could also have sworn he heard someone say, "Thank God for small mercies."

Must have been hearing things.


	7. Seeing Mist

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

Jet looked about the room, managing to resist looking at any of the figures that seemed to multiply by the second, and finding Shadow amongst all his people, called her over to him.

Shadow was totally unlike her father, he thought, as she deftly walked around people, her long, tied-up hair swaying across her neck and shoulders. She could have been Earth military, except for the fact that she was born and raised on Atlantis, like most of the unrescued children were, and Atlantis had it's own military division.

She quickly walked over to him, weaving her way through the haphazardly placed containers, sitting children, and semi-frantic teenagers who were trying to regain some semblance of control, as though sensing that her presence was urgently required. She probably could, Jet contemplated, she does seem to have a knack for precisely that sort of thing.

As she stood in front of him, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulders, he proceeded to ask her a very important question.

"Shadow, could you please look on the floor behind me to my right? Tell me if you see anything."

She quirked an eyebrow, and a slight smile showing her amusement showed briefly on her face before she managed to cover her emotions.

"Except floor, Jet?" she asked, glee filling her voice.

"Except floor, smartass," he replied, lightly cuffing her up the back of her head.

She quickly glanced down, not really looking, and then raised her eyes towards Jet.

A second or so later, her mind actually processed what she had seen, and her eyes widened almost comically. Her whole head leant forwards this time, her eyes firmly affixed on the floor behind him.

She raised her head back up towards him, and told him, "I can see a figure lying on the floor made out of white mist."

She could see him! Granted, she wasn't seeing the exact same thing, but! He **_wasn't _**seeing things.

She was only seeing mist though, he thought to himself, and wondered why.

They stood silently for a few seconds, and then Shadow asked in her slightly accented voice if there was anything else she could do for Jet.

"Right, sorry. My mind got away from me. I need you to organise a search of the crates for bed sheets, food, and anything else you think we might need for tonight. The rest of the Dragon's and I will be going to the Pit and taking the stunned and wounded with us. We'll also be taking most of the little ones with us. If you need any help, pull rank."

Whilst a lot of the children, teenagers, and young adults wouldn't have become a member of any of the military factions of Earth for various reasons, such as would have graduated school at the age of ten and gone onto become one of the worlds foremost expert on (insert specialised degree here), or simply because they weren't born on Earth, they were a part of the Dragons, or were one in training. They basically had to be able to pass what would have been the qualifying exams into the United States Air Force Academy, and be able to do anything that their rank in the USAF would have done.

There were two parts to the whole process. If you were an off world child, you had the option of becoming a Komodo, (which was named after the Komodo dragon) when you were eleven years old. If you had been on sanctuary, ie wherever the Expedition team was based for less than three years, even if you were older than eleven, you could only join the Komodos. You had to spend a minimum of three months in each rank, although some people had spent up to two years in one rank for some reason or another.

If you were raised a Lantean however, when you were twelve, you could join the Dragons. You didn't have to join the Dragons however. When you were eleven, you could have joined the Komodos and decided to stay with it until you completed all your ranks. You had to spend a minimum of two years in each rank in the Dragons before you could be promoted. You could also remain in one rank for longer than two years, because what you did counted as well. The commander of the Dragons, however, had to at least have his wings. It didn't matter whether it was as a Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, or higher.

At thirteen, there was also the choice of specialising in a certain aspect of everyday life, such as engineering, weaponry, or R & D. It changed your insignia slightly, which were the Air Force symbols, by adding small circular gems to different areas of your symbols. Certain gems symbolised different things, like how blue sapphires where for engineering, the darker shades stood for Terran engineering, while the lighter ones were for Atlantean engineering, for example.

The whole thing was set up like the Komodos were the non-commissioned officers, and the Dragons the commissioned ones. And considering an American Air Force officer had created it, that felt understandable.

As a Lieutenant in the Dragons, Shadow was fully qualified and within her rights to ask any of her fellow Lieutenants or any of the Komodos.

That was of course providing they weren't falling asleep standing up, Shadow thought to herself as she noticed Trip, a Specialist Dragon, and friend of hers, leaning against a wall behind Jet, eyes closed and breathing deep, even though there were at least three of the smaller children, being tended to for gaining small cuts, bawling their eyes out only a few metres away.

As Shadow nodded to Jet, and started to move off, he grabbed her arm and whispered, "Better be prepared for anything."

None of his people had been armed before they came through the gate, the Wraith attack having come as a complete surprise, and near enough everything had already been packed away.

He watched as her eyes moved to the figure on the floor, and his involuntarily followed.

Shadow nodded her head again, more sharply this time, and quickly strode over to Berenice, a Komodo, and Krystian, a recently promoted Captain in the Dragons.

Krystian, with his hair tied back, looked a lot like his father had. Although many of the children and teenagers had only seen Krystian's father with short hair, at his funeral however, they had seen a few pictures of him with long hair, and Krystian had grown out his hair so that he could tie it back in homage to his father.

Shadow was talking to Berenice and Krystian, and pointed to Jet. Krystian's head followed the finger, and seeing Jet nod, proceeded to follow the orders Shadow gave him.

Krystian really did look a lot like his father, as the picture of Krystian's father in his early days of the expedition flashed across Jet's mind, a small smirk flashing across Jet's lips.

His face paled, and his lips lost the smirk. A **_lot_** like his father. His head glanced sharply towards the floor.

_**Oh. My. God. **_

This was _not_ happening.

The three of them, (Shadow, Berenice, and Krystian) quickly searched through the closest crates, and finding the flack vests, put one each on. P90's were swiftly removed from another crate, one handed to both Berenice and Krystian. A thigh holster quickly followed for all three, and each received a zat'nik'tel to put in it.

The two, following orders given to them by Shadow (through Jet), walked off towards one of the side corridors so that they could accompany the group going to the Pit, one at point, the other at flank.

The pair stood on either side of the exit, waiting for the group they were going to guard. Neither of the two could possibly have seen, but they had both stood in the exact same place as two of the soldiers that only he, (and now Shadow) could see. He'd had to restrain himself severely from chuckling as the soldiers had joined forward, shuddering tremendously, and using their hands to rub their arms as though they were cold.

Waiting…oh right!

Jet started calling for the children who were going to the Pit towards him. They came in two's or three's and stood in a semi-circle around him. Daemon healed up the last wound on a small girl, packed everything he had used back into the container, and left it on top of an unopened crate near Shadow.

Jet watched as he began to make his way towards Hex, who was standing by Micky, waiting for Daemon's help to move him. Along the way, he passed by the still sleeping Trip, who after falling sideways slightly, was now leaning against a tall crate.

He watched Daemon look at Trip, then start to rub his finger across the base of her nose, a place where near enough everyone knew she was ticklish. Jet watched as she started to giggle in her sleep, then raise a hand up to rub her nose, as Daemon suddenly pulled his hand away, and then when Daemon began to tickle her nose again, he watched as bam! Her hand flung out and she hit Daemon in the nose,

At Daemon's sudden cry, she woke up, and seeing Daemon in front of her, clutching his nose, she immediately knew what had happened. She began expressing her utmost apologies, but Daemon just waved her off, saying it was his fault, as he began to walk towards Hex and the still unconscious Micky.

As Trip began following him, no doubt to keep apologising, Jet decided to nip this one in the bud, and called her over to him, and told her that they were going to the Pit to sleep, and that she was especially coming, because she was the only one who had fallen asleep since they'd gotten here.

After asking her how long she had been awake without sleep, she replied that it had only been two and a half days, but that she'd been running off of coffee for most of that. He just replied that it was typical of her family to run off of stimulants in times of desperate measures. She replied immediately, saying that at least she hadn't gone for 'the heavy stuff'.

He took that as the end of the conversation, and looking around, noticed which of the Komodos were more awake than the others. He then told Byron, Romolo, and Rhea, who looked a hell of a lot more awake than anyone else in the room that they were to help Shadow.

He noticed that Shadow had grabbed a little one from the back of his group and had placed a bunch of linen into his hands, Trin and Tyeena, who were some of the oldest off worlders, and who currently looked more awake than some of the others in the party, namely himself, had each been given a relatively small box full of something, he didn't know what.

Jet then began to notice that Hex and Daemon were now closer to the exit, and were holding Micky between them, in some sort of converted armchair hold. Marcus was easily carrying Cas, his twin sister, and her long red hair having come free of the bobble that had held it back was now draped over Marcus' arm.

Someone had thoughtfully moved Z closer to the exit, and she was starting to mumble slightly, waking from the stunner's effects.

Everyone he'd called for was now in front of him, waiting for him to start. He briefly told them of the plan, and they were ready to go.

He felt like a shepherd guiding his flock to safety and salvation, or maybe he was the Pied Piper leading the rats to their doom. Either way, he disliked the feeling, and the foreboding heaviness that accompanied it.

He moved over to Z, scooped her into his arms, and then shifted her about a bit so that he could comfortably carry her. Her arm flung itself off of her body and hung down, and one of the smaller children, he couldn't see who it was, only that they had brown hair, carefully placed it back upon her body.

Jet mumbled a thank you to the child who had done that for him, as it would have been extremely uncomfortable for him, to carry her with her hand hitting his legs, knees, and potentially other parts of his anatomy.

Krystian took point by Jet, and they started walking off to the Pit.

He could hear faint echoes of Shadow ordering others about now, and all suddenly heard a crate lid as it crashed thunderously to the floor.

The figures that now seemed to constantly be around him, (jumping out from the middle of a child or crate, or who seemed to press themselves against the wall as they got further down the hall, but gasped in shock as the children walked through them), were not far from his mind.


	8. Suiting Up and Clearer Figures

_**Disclaimer: see chapter one**_

_**Authors Note: It turns out that I lied about first person chapters. Sorry! This was the only way to a) introduce some potentially key characters, and b) beginning the explanation about the whole 'seeing mist' thing.**_

Shadow walked away from Jet, over towards Berenice and Krystian.

Berenice had tied her long, lavender hair back in a plait hours before the evacuation, but now, due to all the running and the falling rubble, bits of hair had managed to work their way loose and coil themselves around her face.

Berenice had been an off-worlder, found during one of the expeditions. She had been the only survivor of a small village, on a planet called Ticala where the Stargate was in orbit. She had been the first orphaned off-worlder to be brought back.

At the age of six, the Commander had placed her in the girl's dorm room, and the already formed, 'Terrible Trinity' as they had been dubbed by all on Atlantis, which, had then, consisted of Trip, Rhea, and Shadow, soon expanded it's ranks to four.

When they were older, Berenice had taken to weapons training like a duck to water, or Shadow's father to an injured patient. (On a side note, it was remarkable how easily the three were compared.)

She was determined not to allow the Wraith to kill any more people.

During her weapons training on board the Puddle Jumpers, she had gotten to know Krystian outside of classes.

He'd been working with his father on repairing one of the ships that had been damaged on a recent mission.

The rest of the Four, (as they had been newly dubbed, because Berenice wasn't terrible, and no-one could come up with an adequate new name), had heard a full description of him later.

It wasn't until Rhea heard that he'd been repairing a ship that she'd exclaimed, "My **_BROTHER_**! Your **_crushing_** on my brother?"

From that moment onwards, hints were dropped by the original trio to Krystian whenever they met him, in the halls or during class, but he never got them. **_That _**had continued for a year and a half, but the trio didn't give up.

They were **_WAY _** beyond hints now. The time had come to be completely, and if necessary, brutally, honest.

A month before coming here, back to Atlantis, which they had just left…(she'd think about **_that_** later, came the disjoined thought), the original trio had kidnapped Krystian, blind-folded him, and taken him for a short flight over to the North pier, where they had proceeded to interrogate him about what was his dysfunction? Was he completely blind?

He'd answered that he was scared of being refused.

REFUSED?

Berenice wouldn't refuse him even if he had the plague. The Trio managed to get that through his thick skull, which took at **_least_** an hour. After they'd return to the docking area, upon which the three had gotten reprimanded for taking a jumper without a supervising adult, he immediately walked off. They had all tried to follow, but he spotted them, trailing not so inconspicuously behind them.

Later, when the group were all gathered in our room, from what answers the three could get from a lovesick Berenice, he'd gone to the mess hall, and had, in front of the entire room, (including his father), pulled her into a mind-shattering kiss.

Everyone had just watched the unexpected occurrence shocked, she later heard from Trip's dad. Lizzie, who had been in the mess, said that she didn't even think a Wraith attack would have pulled them out of it. After all, Krystian was known as being incredibly shy and quiet, the total opposite to his father, whom Shadow had heard from her father as being nicknamed, 'The Long-Haired Pillock' in the early days of the expedition.

Shadow pulled her thoughts together and told Berenice of their new 'orders'. The three quickly searched the surrounding crates, finding food, (remember that crate), life sign detectors and other Atlantian gizmos, as Jet's father called them, and in the third, found the vest jackets.

She gave one each to Berenice and Krystian, who swiftly put them on, and opening another crate, found the stock of P90's.

One each was distributed to them, and the pair quickly moved to the exit to wait for the departing group.

She quickly got Tobyn loaded with bed linen she'd found in the next crate, the top of the pile coming just below his blue eyes, and placed at the back of the group before they set off.

As Jet passed through the exit, and as she and Rhea had lifted a heavy crate lid, the mist like figure she had been watching out of the corner of her eye suddenly took on a clearer shape. She started, and the lid fell onto her foot, causing her to give a pain filled yelp.

The figure on the floor was Krystian's father, Dr Thomas Kavanaugh.

_**Authors Note: I'd like at least 10 reviews before I post the next chapter people, so review, please?**_


	9. Traversing the Halls

It had been five minutes already. The journey had never seemed that long before. Were they slowing down or was time speeding up? It had happened to them before, who's to say it can't happen again?

Long, curving hallways, high corridor ceilings, everything looked the same, the doors, the floors, the view out of any window even. But Jet knew where he was headed. The route had been ingrained into his memory after traversing it for so many years. Straight ahead for thirty feet, turn left, down the slope, right turn, straight ahead, down two levels, right turn, walk for fifty steps, and look right.

And, Ladies and Gentlemen, on your right we have, The Pit. The home of every child aged two to seventeen. Accessible only if you knew the passcode or had your mental imprint saved into it's memory banks. This was a place where the children of Atlantis could get away from their overbearing parents, or hide from them when they didn't want to do something. It used to be the place you would go when you became a Dragon, but things changed after the Wraith constantly came after them.

Jet stood before the doors and sent his mental image, the one that would give him entry, to the Presence, as he called it.

Nothing.

He tried again, varying the image slightly.

Still nothing.

Something very weird, weirder than normal, was going on here. And he was determined to find out what it was.

Jet tried his passcode this time.

The doors stubbornly remained shut.

Taking a deep breath in, then slowly breathing it out, he was suddenly aware that the weight in his arms was getting heavier, and that the others were shifting and shuffling about behind him.

So, if the _new_ codes and prints weren't working, then what about….

The phrase was sent.

The doors opened.

The puzzle had become even more complex.


	10. Entering the Pit

Disclaimer: see chapter one

The room was dark, the only light shining into the room coming from the ceiling light behind the group.

"Krystian. Light." The aforementioned male lifted his gun up and side-stepped around Jet, turning the light on. A beam of light cut across the room, and a second later, was joined by another, as Berenice had come around and had raised her light above their heads.

Jet walked into the room, through the entrance corridor, followed by the others, and lay Z onto the closest couch, not really caring at the moment that they were protected with a plastic covering.

There was a humming noise, and a series of long metal shutter lifted up, revealing large windows and a really big balcony door, framing clearly a beautiful clear sky outside. About three quarters the distance between the door Jet had entered and the balcony doors was a descending incline, which Jet knew from experience led down to the pit. So as to make the incline not so deep, the Ancients had made the room so that there was a shallow incline which led to the balcony doors.

The room was large, Jet already knew this, but he'd never seen the furniture in this layout before. The shelves were filled with crystals, small doo-hickeys, and what looked to him like the life signs detector he had packed into a crate. There were several large viewing screens on the grass-coloured walls that were blank at the moment, and were covered in what appeared to be a thin layer of dust. Never in his memory had the screens been dirty, because dirt interfered with the visibility options, and all of the children had hated not being able to see things properly. The computer access terminals he had passed on his way in had been like this as well, the chairs and consoles both covered with sheeting.

The floor was emerald green, and was made of the slightly bouncy type that he was used to. His parents had supposed that the Ancients had also used this room for their children, and a bouncy floor reduced the number of accidents that happened.

Krystian and Berenice split up and searched the two side corridors that he knew led to the various bedrooms, and the children around him sat on the various chairs or couches, some of them even pulling the coverings around them like a bedspread.

The patrolling pair swiftly returned up the tunnel below the window, as there was a set of stairs in the corner of each half of the Pit which led to the next level downwards. The next level downwards was were the Dragons slept, but for the next few weeks or so, he guessed they were all going to sleep up here, reassuring the children and those who woke up from nightmares.

Berenice and Krystian reported the all clear, and Jet sent the older, more awake ones off with sets of linen to make the beds, listening to a message from Shadow, and returning her call, before collapsing onto a nearby chair, falling asleep.


	11. Wraith Alert!

**Authors Note** - Wow! You people are really lucky! Three chapters within a few hours. Sit tight for a few hours more, and I just might be able to get you another one up.

By the time Jet was halfway to the Pit, Shadow had given out all the items necessary for tonight to her helpers, voluntary or not, never taking her eyes of the figure on the floor for more than a few seconds. She had sent the group on their way, with two Beretta's, a Glock, and a Luger as protection, as well as making sure the group knew to contact someone if they saw anything suspicious.

She pathed a quick message to Jet, and receiving the answer, right before he fell asleep, quickly made her way to the control chair for Atlantis' defence systems. She walked briskly, glancing swiftly from side to side at the people beside her, and heard footsteps from the people following her.

She speedily reached the control chair and sat down, closing her eyes as the chair collapsed backwards without her even needing to think about it.

She heard one of the people who had followed her walk to a control panel she'd passed by as she had entered, but had paid little attention to it. She opened her eyes slightly.

"Power levels aren't changing! It's like nothing's happening!" The man, who was wearing a blue t-shirt underneath a tan coloured set of overalls, was just about ready to start jumping up and down now.

He walked swiftly over to the chair; jumping onto the platform it rested on, and started speaking incredibly slowly, as though she was a complete and utter idiot.

"Do...you...un...der...stand...me?...We...are...humans...from..."

The man hadn't got through half of his first sentence before she'd become impatient with him, and her eyes flashed wide-open, flecks of anger clearly showing in her eyes. The man who wore a hat on his head, who stood to the right of the chair, yelled out, "Yo, Doc! I think she's becoming a bit angry with you. Do you have the ability to anger all females or something? Is it contagious?" He began to back away, crossing his fingers in the sign of the cross, as though he really did have a disease and really _was_ contagious.

Another man to her left, with wild black hair, scoffed at the other mans actions. He seemed very familiar, in fact they all did. Why did they, and how the hell had Kavanaugh gotten here when he was supposed to be six feet under, pushing up Atlantian daisies?

The idiot began speaking again, "Well forgive me if I'm wrong, but we are facing certain impending doom within a week. If this girl can use the Atlantian technology without draining our power sources, then I think we should at least try to communicate with her at all costs, even if it means reducing myself to an inferior level of communication!"

Impending doom. Draining power sources. This scenario was beginning to sound _extremely_ familiar.

"If we can get her," the idiot continued, "to think of the surrounding solar systems, we can..." the man's voice died out as a holographic representation of the wanted area appeared above their heads. They all glanced from the hologram to the girl who was sitting calmly in the chair.

Shadow lifted an eyebrow and plainly stated, "You could've just asked". Their jaws just dropped. She looked up sharply though, as the hologram zoomed in on three large vessels that were near the sixth solar system out from Atlantis. Surrounded by lots of small ships, the fleet advanced onwards, passing a small, uninhabited planet, and continued advancing towards their current position.

She checked, double checked, and then finally stated aloud, "Wraith". Everyone in the room looked at one another as they heard her defeated tone.

But the 'defeated' tone was not from the fact that there were Wraith on the way, but that she now knew exactly where they were. Or rather when.

Atlantis, early 2005.

Using the chair, she activated the communications systems, and sent out the verbal message, "All command staff and Dragons are to report to the briefing room. I repeat, all command staff and Dragons are to report to the briefing room".

A thought later, and the chair rose into its upright position, the hologram disappearing as she hurriedly stood, starting to leave the room when she called over her shoulder to the shocked group, "If you want to know what's happening, I suggest you follow me".

She heard the footsteps following behind her.

Hook, line, and sinker.


	12. Dragons, Komodos, and Serpents

**Authors Note** - See, I told you I'd upload a new chapter within a few hours. Aren't you all lucky buggers! The notes at the bottom will be extremely useful for future chapters.

He'd only been asleep fifteen minutes, but that small amount of sleep had done Jet a world of good. He rose, not exactly willingly, from his semi-comfortable place of rest, when the message came through, informing him, and the other Dragons, that they were needed in the briefing room.

He saw other Dragons and the Komodos, (Dragons are like the officers, Komodos are like the non-coms), pick themselves up from the couches, chairs, and rugs that they had lain themselves down on, or rather collapsed onto, and any spare sheets were tucked around those still sleeping. The remnants of their sleep, no matter how short it had been, were rubbed from their eyes, and hands were scraping hair back into ponytails or behind ears.

A quick look around the room saw the little ones, his Serpents, all fast asleep, the day being very exhausting for them, some stirring only briefly at the message. He sent a quick thought to all their minds not to wake up until he returned and called for them to wake. He had done that only once before, and he had gotten a very bad, sharp shooting pain behind eyes. That however, had been when he was a lot younger, and not as experienced in his powers. Now all he got was a short, dull throb, before it settled down.

He said to all those who could hear him, "Don't shoot unless you're absolutely sure it's Wraith. You may see some unexpected things or people, so do not be alarmed. Inform me if you see anything. Komodos are staying here, the room will most likely be packed. I want two of you on guard at at times, rotate the watch as you see fit."

He started towards the door, ignoring the complaints, but stopped, turning to the side slightly, and stated, "The room will be put on lockdown as soon as the last Dragon leaves the room. Ancient codes only." He turned back and left the room.

The other Dragons quickly followed him. The doors shut, and lockdown was initiated. The only sounds heard in the room were the soft snores of the children, and the hum of the shutter as it closed half-way, fully acknowledging that everyone, or near enough, was going into deep sleep.

This passage way must be caught in a temporal corridor or something, Jet thought, as he and the others made their way to the briefing room. The journey now only seemed to take a minute or two now, compared to the earlier journey time of nearly ten minutes, which seemed pretty miraculous to him. He should get Micky or Trip to come down here with their specialised doo-hickeys to check it out.

They were approaching the more populated areas now, and judging by the various gasps and hushed conversations started behind him, he guessed that at least some of them could see the people around them. Others however, he overheard saying they could hear whispers, or only see mist, just like Shadow.

The group quickly approached the briefing room, where he could see Shadow sitting by herself on one side of the room, and a large group of people crowded around a person sitting down, meaning he couldn't see any of their faces.

Jet quickly made his way over to Shadow and seated himself next to her, others from the group sitting down somewhere in their portion of the noticeably divided room, or standing in various positions around those who were seated.

He saw that Shadow had various notebooks and papers on the desk in front of her, and was sorting through them to find the ones that she needed.

"Answers, Shadow?" Jet asked turning his head slightly towards her. She looked towards him, and told him,

"Yes Sir."

"Good." Jet nodded his head, and turned back to the still huddled group on the other side of the room. "Oh, and Shadow?" he continued.

"Yes Sir?" she responded, cocking her head in an inquisitive manner, and slightly raising an eyebrow.

"Don't call me Sir", he ended.

"But Sir, you are the ranking member of our group, and it's only right to utilise a proper command structure when facing the unknown. It also makes us seem less weak if we have a command structure, and as you are the most powerful person amongst our group who also has the most combat experience, it is only logical for you to assume command. Correct?" Jet didn't know that Shadow could form such a good argument, was his first thought. His second was that he was glad she was on his side.

Apparently, she had also mentally networked the conversation to all their people who were in the room, as various nods and signs of agreement were seen and heard. It appeared that he was now their ranking leader.

May God have mercy on them all.

The group across the way broke their huddle, and sat down in various seats on their side of the room. It was then that Jet looked upon the face of his father.

The doors all shut. The meeting began.

Can anyone guess who his father is? I have provided various clues; you'll just have to go over the story with a fine toothcomb to find them. An honourable mention to anyone who finds the correct answer, and even honourable mentions to those who don't get the right answer.

I also suggest brushing up on the mechanics of quantum theory, because the next couple of chapters might end up being a doozy. Also, if anything needs to be further explained, just send me an e-mail, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible with the answer.

The **Dragons**, in decreasing age order, are; Jet, Cas (shot), Micky (stunned), Hex, Akasha, Marcus, Daemon, Z (stunned), Luka, Krystian, Martin, Liam, Trip, Shadow, Deuce, Rhea, and Ellie.


	13. The Meeting Commences

Authors Note- I'm sorry it's so short, but the next one should be longer.

Jet blinked slowly as he looked into his father's face. God, he looked young! He glanced briefly around the room, they all looked young! Something very fishy was going on h...

"Time-travel?" He asked, not bothering to lower his voice.

"Yes Sir", she responded, not shocked that he had already guessed what had happened to them all. He was smart, it just wasn't often that he chose to show it.

Jet gently slapped a hand over his eyes, dragging the hand over his face, that one move showing how old he truly felt.

Jet's sharply spoken question had garnered the attention of the group seated opposite them, and they had all been watching Jet and Shadow interact with each other for the past few minutes.

"Should I start the briefing Sir?" Shadow gently asked, noticing the other group's attention that was fixed upon the two.

"You are the one who called the meeting. Take it away!" Jet remarked. "Besides, you're better at negotiating than I am. Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Shadow smirked slightly, before coughing gently to gain the attention of the room, which hadn't really been necessary, since they'd been paying attention since Jet had first spoken.

"Good day. As most of you here know, my name is Shadow. Some of you for the past few minutes may have been hearing unknown voices, or seeing people shaped clouds of mist. Do not worry. In case you haven't, there is a group of people across the room from us. Do not be alarmed if you begin to see people at those tables," she explained, pointing at the aforementioned tables.

"I called this meeting because…" Here, Shadow was cut off, due to the large white cloud of energy with octopus-like tendrils spiralling from it that had appeared at the roof of the room, and was slowly descending downwards.

Various gasps were heard from both sides of the room, excluding a very small amount from Jet's group, when the cloud transformed into a person. That person looked to be an older, wiser, more ancient looking version of Major John Sheppard.


	14. The First Explanation

"Greetings to all", the new arrival greeted to all those in the room.

"Who are you?" Trip, the twenty one year old engineer and aviation expert, managed to ask. Most of the rest in attendance were in shock due to the appearance of the newcomer, and how much he looked like one of the people in the room. Jet however, held the look of someone who was extremely bored.

"My name is Jorran, and I am hear to give you the answers to your questions, some of which you do not even know yet".

"Finally!" That, however, came out as a duet, as both Dr Radek Zelenka and Luka, one of the Dragons in the room, answered. Amused glances were shared between the surrounding people.

"Please do not interrupt," Jorran asked. "Some answers are just for one group, others are for both, so forgive me if your question is not answered straight away". He turned slightly so that he was standing with his back to a wall, and so that his gaze easily included both groups.

"When your group," he nodded slightly to Jet, "went through the gate, you travelled back through time. However, to make sure you could live in this time without the possible future occurrence of entropic cascade failure, you had to be transported to an Atlantis where you wouldn't exist.

Your group was transported to an alternate version of this timeline, where the expedition from Earth was never sent. If you had been transported to this time and reality directly, you all would have been crushed by the shield."

Jorran turned slightly to face Major Sheppard's side of the room. "The reason they appeared to come through the shield was because even though the shield was raised in your reality, and they walked into another reality, you have all been given the ability to see what is happening in the other dimension".

Ford leaned over to his left slightly to ask Major Sheppard if he had understood any of that. He didn't get a response.

Jorran continued, "As soon as they were all through, the two different universes began to be melded together. That's why you," he glanced at Jet's group, "are all starting to hear voices and see figures of mist. It is part of the melding process".

"Where are your pointy ears?" came the softly spoken, but no less acerbic, characteristically witty reply that many of the people in the room had come to rely upon from Rodney McKay.

Even though he had been sharply elbowed by Elizabeth, ("Oww!" had been his reply to that), after the quick glance he'd dared at the group facing him; the pain just seemed to leave.

The harsh grimaces and dark looks had lifted momentarily, and smiles and chuckles were seen and heard from the group across the way. It made them all look years younger. Another thought crossed his mind, _'They actually understood the joke?'_

Jorran continued as though the interruption had never occurred.

"The ability that this group," here he gestured to Jet's side of the room, "has to meld with this reality is based on their ability to manipulate and utilise their ATA gene. The most powerful have already fully integrated with this reality".

Here, everyone from Major Sheppard's side of the room cast Jet and Shadow speculative glances, as though from looking at them they could judge how powerful they really were. Shadow blushed slightly at the sudden attention, but Jet just grinned and waved a hand, sarcastically. Most of John's group were struck by the familiarity of that action, but couldn't explain why it was familiar.

Daemon suddenly asked, "Why are we here exactly? Are we meant to change something?" All heads that had turned towards him turned back towards Jorran.

"Yes. All the information you need is in the journals, your computers, and in your own heads. Hex, make sure to install it as soon as possible".

Hex, at this point, had been close to falling asleep, but at his phrase, had jerked wide awake. Looks were directed to her from both groups and Jet mouthed "Them?" to her. She shook her head slightly, and nodded her head towards the Ancient.

And all of you, tell them who you really are. You deserve it. We failed. But you will succeed." These were Jorran's last words as he transformed back into the energy form he had arrived in.

As raised eyebrows were directed at them from the other group, Jet, Hex, and Shadow looked at each other, then at the opposing group, then back at each other.

One singular thought crossed their minds.

Show time.


	15. Breaking The Ice

Disclaimer: see chapter one

Tense glances were shared between the two groups.

"Tough crowd," came the phrase from a, for once, straight faced Lieutenant Ford.

The groups blinked once, twice, then people from both sides of the room were trying to conceal and swallow their laughter. Their attempts were all for nothing though, as Daemon managed to let a small scoff through the hand covering his mouth, sending the whole room giggling with the face he pulled.

No one tried not to laugh. Even the sullen faced killjoy, Sergeant Bates, seated on the back row of his side of the room, gave a grin when he thought no one was looking.

It didn't matter that the joke hadn't been particularly funny; they had all just needed something to break the ice.

John gave a brief thought to how that one would have had to be explained to Teyla if he'd said it aloud.

Outside the briefing room, the sound of laughter filled the control room and the debarkation area. Several people looked up at the doors diving the room from everyone else, wishing to be in there so that they could discover what the hell was making all those in there create such a cacophony of noise, when the Wraith were only a few weeks away.

"Wait a minute. How do we know, exactly, that you are from the future? This could just all be some elaborate hoax, very elaborate mind you!"

Rodney hated to be a killjoy, but he didn't want everyone's hopes to be raised just to come crashing back down when everything went wrong, and he (and the rest of his team, he grudgingly admitted) had to fix everything.

The grins and chuckles vanished, and Jet could see the doubts begin to flash across the opposite groups faces.

He pathed Shadow and mentally asked her, "Any chance you can pull a rabbit out of a hat right about now?"

Shadow replied, "I can give you the whole menagerie". She pulled a relatively thick journal from one of the many piles she had in front of her, and opened it to a place that she had known she would have to use. She'd even book marked it.

"Hey, it that my…"

She removed the bookmark, and began to speak, letting the words answer his unfinished question. "Yesterday, an elderly woman was discovered in suspended animation in one of the previously unexplored laboratories. Even though we all immediately assumed she was an Ancient, due to her appearance, she later informed us that she was Dr Weir herself, who had travelled ten thousand years into the past, and had met the Ancients before their exodus to Earth."

Shadow raised an eyebrow and lowered the journal to the table, asking, "Do you believe us now? Or should I continue?"

Major Sheppard turned his head to Rodney and asked what the importance of Shadow's 'little speech' had been. He took a few seconds to answer, but stated, "I wrote that, after we found the time travelling Dr Weir."

Shadow picked up the journal again, and recommenced reading it aloud to the room, after finding a relevant place to start. "Dr Weir's time travel, and the subsequent change in the time lines proves quantum theory, that when a person goes back in time, they create a separate reality - a second version of themselves, living in a parallel world. More simply put, my interpretation of the universe is, in fact, split into an infinite number of copies of itself, in which every possible outcome of every decision ever made all throughout existence, all exist somewhere in an infinitely layered 'multiverse'.

Dr Weir spoke for the first time during the entire meeting, having preferred to watch the newcomers and observe how they reacted to their surroundings. "That sounds remarkably similar to what you told me Rodney."


	16. That's My Journal

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

Everyone in the room turned their heads to Rodney McKay, as he cringed slightly under their collective gazes.

It took a few milliseconds for him to gather up his courage so that he could address the room, which the Atlantis Expedition Team members found peculiar, as Rodney had never been one to hold back an opinion, whether it was the right time for it or not. But to Jet and the othesr, this was just classic, normal, everyday, Rodney McKay behaviour.

Correction, classic 'McKay' behaviour.

The room watched as various expressions crossed his face, from a slight frown, to complete bafflement, all in a few seconds.

"Rodney?" Elizabeth asked, which seemed to pull him out of his own, relatively small, world. His eyes first went to Elizabeth, whose face held a slight questioning glance, as though to ask him if he was all right.

He nodded slightly, before turning to face the rest of his team. Seeing the same look upon their faces prompted him to nod again, deeper this time, as though he were not just convincing his team mates of his well being, be it physical or mental, but himself.

"It's my journal, but she never went anywhere near my room. But…" Rodney's voice drifted off as he looked towards Elizabeth, whose thoughts seemed to be on the same wavelength as his at the moment. **(A/N: Poor girl!)**

"Go," she firmly stated, and at her phrase, Rodney was out of his chair like a bullet, causing it to fall down as he basically ran out of the room, (like he was **_very_** desperate for the bathroom), and down the stairs, (barely missing a young soldier who was standing at the bottom of the staircase), pausing only to let the automatic doors open, then slide shut again as he left.

Everyone's gaze had followed him as he'd left, but now they were turned back to the opposite group.

Elizabeth leaned to the side slightly, and picking up Rodney's fallen chair, and leaving it out for him, turned her gaze casually to the opposing group spokesperson, who just as casually returned it.

"And now we wait," Elizabeth declared to the room, deliberately ignoring Ford asking Major Sheppard just exactly what it was they were waiting for. If John replied, she didn't hear it.

"And now we wait," Shadow echoed softly, with a sense of finality.

It was less than five minutes later that a red faced, panting, slightly sweating Rodney McKay entered through the now open doors that shut behind him as he walked further into the room, carrying a book in his left hand.

He walked over to the desk directly in front of Shadow, and gesturing to the book he carried, then to the one on the desk, resting under her right hand, placed his on the desk.

Noticing his further glances at the book in Shadow's possession, Jet gently gave Shadow a mental tap, distracting her from her unconscious staring match with Elizabeth, and drew her attention back to the matter at hand.

Shadow then hesitantly nudged the journal under her hand towards Rodney, and as soon as her hand left it's vicinity, he immediately pulled it closer, and opened both front covers of the journals, and a second later, a sharp, "Aha!" filled the tense atmosphere, as the covers slammed shut.

"'Aha!' good or 'Aha!' bad?" came the voice of Major John Sheppard, as he attempted to see the desk that Rodney's body was concealing without actually trying to. Sadly for him though, he hadn't suddenly developed x-ray vision.

"Exactly the same, even though theirs is a little more war torn than I would have expected of myself. Right down to the coffee mug stain I accidentally made on it this morning. No doubt about it now, they're telling the truth."

Rodney had been walking back to his chair with his journal, (the one he had just retrieved from his room), in hand. By the time he was saying the last four words, he had been about to sit down on his chair.

The shock, however, decided to set in immediately, and instead of sitting, he collapsed, sprawling and floundering as the chair rose on two legs slightly, only to fall back down with a small thump as he leaned forward.

Fortunately for him, no one from his team (most importantly the Major, who would have teased him for days without end) had seen his lapse in balance, as the shock had grabbed each of them also. But from the slight smirks some of the other group wore, he knew that this moment, however fleeting, would be long remembered.

Rodney crossed his arms in defiance, and tilted his chin upwards as though to as, 'What you looking at?' He then ruined the whole look by slouching slightly into the chair, only to rise back up after a few seconds. Jet sympathised with him, these chairs were _definitely_ not made for slouching.

He frowned slightly, his temper starting to rear it's ugly head, and everyone knows that a sarcastic Rodney McKay on it's enemy's turf with no surprises could make even the strongest man cry if he wanted to, using that sharp, sarcastic nature everyone knew he had. But invaders on it's own home turf, that was a _whole_ new ball game.

"Fine, you're telling the truth. Just who are you all?" Rodney had managed to surprise even himself with the amount of snarkiness that had come out with that statement, and the sudden sharpness of his voice, as well as the phrase itself, seemed to recall the other Expedition members out of their cotton coated, cloud covered world.

Shadow started to open her mouth to begin the introductions, the acerbic nature suddenly shown towards her phasing her not the slightest, having gotten used to it, because everyone knows that when you put a bunch of Becketts, McKays, and Sheppards together, some supernatural occurrence will make sure that they all share each others habits, both good and bad. A quick hand that grasped her wrist, followed by an even more quickly explained reason, stopped her from doing that.

If he were the commander of their rag-tag group, no matter what his real military rank was, he would be the one to introduce them all. "Besides," he quickly pathed to her, "I need you to operate the cameras. I can't wait to see their reactions! We'll have to show the others later."

"Neither can I Sir, neither can I," she responded.

Well, well, look what the cat dragged in! I'm back people! Sorry it's been so long, but personal problems have prevented me from reaching a computer, especially one that has the internet. So please forgive me, please? _PLEASE? _Feel for me people, I've gone from having broadband, with a big ass desk to work off of, to this itty-bitty, no writing space desk and a computer with only a dial-up connection. Catch you all on the flip side.  
Phoenix Lumen, the Phoenix of Light.


	17. Congratulations Major!

Disclaimer: see chapter one

From beneath her section of the table, Shadow pulled out a black, relatively small duffle bag that she had removed from a cargo container prior to entering the room. Opening it, she removed a black laptop with a silver and blue Atlantis logo, and a C.D. case.

She booted up the computer, and put the disc in the first computer's drive. Out of the bag, she also grabbed a few connecting cables, and linked the two laptops together. She pressed a few buttons on the first laptop, starting the recording off. Shadow then pressed a few buttons on the second laptop, a few seconds and some more taps later, she nodded sharply towards Jet, who began.

His gaze, which had been transferred to Shadow while she was doing her thing with the computers, now was shifted to the group opposite them, not focusing on one person, but glancing from person to person for the shortest amount of time.

"O.K. then, since I seem to have been voted the leader of our little rag-tag group, I guess that means I'll be the one introducing us all.

I'm Lieutenant Colonel Jet, yes that's my real rank, no that's not my real name; it's the abbreviated term. My real name is Jake Ethan Taylor…"

His voice died off as he disappeared off into his own little world, remembering things that had happened when he had introduced himself to others by his last name, and only upon being nudged by Shadow did he return.

"Sheppard. Jake Ethan Taylor Sheppard."

At the last sentence, he had looked up from the desk, (and what a pretty desk it was to, sort of a silvery-grey that shone various shades of blue and purple when the light reflected off it _just_ right), which was where his gaze had been transferred, to his father's face. The shock there was clearly evident; white face, wide eyes, and a jaw so low, it looked unhinged. He looked as though he was going to fain…pass out.

A few seconds later, Aiden, Rodney, and Carson surfaced from their own shock at the knowledge that here stood, (well, sat really), the son of one of their closest friends, and began slapping John's back in that classic male pounding manner, with Carson being heard saying, "Congratulations, Major. It's a boy!" in a surprisingly cheerful voice.

Teyla leaned over slightly towards Elizabeth, faced her and said, "I was correct in my belief that he was related to Major Sheppard."

Elizabeth swiftly retaliated with "I knew the voice was familiar, I just couldn't remember from where exactly."

Jet waited for the murmurs on the other side of the room to quieten down. His own side of the room hadn't said a word, just watched, some of them with disguised awe at seeing people they hadn't seen in years laughing and joking around.

"My second-in-command regarding military matters unfortunately passed out from exhaustion, and is currently recuperating in our MedBay."

Carson's head jolted up. Someone had passed out and not been referred to him? He burst into the conversation, asking quickly, and in a voice that was becoming less coherent by the word, his Scottish accent beginning to overwhelm his training that not everyone could understand him when he got into 'major panic mode', as it had been called around Atlantis, mainly because of the fact that it was normally only the Major that could create that reaction in him. "Is he alright? Does he require medical attention?"

Jet briefly chuckled. "She, Doc. All she needs to do is rest. We've already healed any wounds she had. She is, in fact, my twin sister, Cassandra Astara, but she prefers Cas. Something about prophecies and not being believed, would you believe it?"

The back pounding began again, and Carson replaced 'boy' with 'girl' this time around. A small part of John's consciousness knew that his back would be covered in bruises this time tomorrow.

"Just how many kids do I end up having exactly?" John asked, as his eyes became even wider with shock.

Deciding to play with his father a bit, Jet calmly answered. "Just three now," with a little bit of sadness. He watched as his dad's eyes began to bug out again, and they seemed to bug out even further when the back pounding commenced. He waited for his dad to calm down, and his eyes to retract back into his skull, before adding, "That we know of."

John closed his eyes and softly replied, "That you know of," leaning back on his chair, the two front legs lifting up into the air. Then he actually seemed to process what had been said. "That you KNOW of!"

The chair fell backwards the rest of the way, collapsing onto the floor as Major John Sheppard, United States Air Force, head of the Atlantis-based Earth military, second in command of the entire Atlantis Base, and self proclaimed 'Mr Cool' (Rodney proclaimed he was Capt. Kirk, but Kirk was of a lower rank than _him,_ and he was _WAY _prettier than Kirk), fainted.

Jet looked up at Dr Weir and asked, "So," he began with a slightly sheepish look, as his entire group turned to stare at him, "…..does this mean we're finishing this briefing in MedBay?"


	18. Beginning the Introductions

Disclaimer: see chapter one

God, did his head hurt! What the hell happened! Lets see; got up, went to way to many briefings, latest briefing interrupted because of temporal travellers, and I have at least three kids in the future, maybe even more.

A slight groan fell out of his mouth, why, oh _why _did he have to tempt fate. 'I'm bored', he remembered with disgust. What he wouldn't give to be bored right now.

The sound of mumblings and whispers filled the room, as he lay there trying to wake up properly. He could here Beckett calling MedBay, telling them to prep a bed for him, and that was enough to make him force himself to get up.

"I didn't mean to make him faint." FAINT! I did not faint. I…passed out…from shock…from learning I have at least three kids. Oh man. "Just shock him a bit."

"Hey Doc, I think he's waking up! Major…get up."

Oops. Did I say that out loud? Ford why can't you just let me sleep? No, wait, he was supposed to be getting up.

John opened his eyes, looking right up at the white ceiling, and turned his head slightly to see Carson virtually standing over him. His head was resting on something soft, not hard like he'd expected. A quick look around the room confirmed that it had been Teyla who had given up her jacket for him. She seemed to do that a lot for him. Maybe because he was the one always getting knocked out?

A slightly questioning grunt escaped his mouth at the thought, as he held out his hand to Ford, who was standing on the opposite side of Carson. The Lieutenant pulled him up, and the dizziness he felt must have shown on his face, because Carson was immediately up next to him, shining a penlight in his eyes. Nasty torture device that they were. He suffered the pain for a few moments, then leant down, picked up the jacket, and handed it back to Teyla with a nod, who returned it.

"How long was I out?" was the question posed to the occupants of the room. No need to mince words after all.

A quick glimpse around the room saw many faces, a few shocked, some pensive, one bashful, and one extremely smarmy. Oh no, he knew what was coming now.

"You mean after you _fainted_?" Rodney and his extra smarmy voice. Just how much of an emphasise could he place on such a vile word, at least in his books.

"I didn't faint!" came the sharp retort. "I just passed out…from shock." There way absolutely no way he was going to use the 'f' word.

"Lad, faint is the correct medical term. And besides, it was just for a few seconds. Though that bump will need to be checked out. You did hit it pretty hard."

Oh come on now Carson, it was just a bump, was the thought that John would never express, after all, Carson was the man who determined who could go of world or not. Worse still, he was the man in charge of the needles.

Remembering the reason for his brief trip to the land of the unconscious, John turned his head and searched the room for his…"Son?"

"Yes Major, a son. And a daughter too. Possibly two of one and one of the other. Or even more." Rodney was _really_ loving this.

"Two girls," Jet, his son, interjected. "It would have been two boys as well, but Tony was killed just before we came through the gate." His voice was starting to thicken at the end of the sentence.

Oh God! John thought, his face blanching slightly, I've already lost one.

McKay's grin started to falter. He shouldn't have gone so far. Wait, if the Major had children then…

"Do I have any children?" he blurted out. "Have I already lost them?"

Jet looked at McKay, slowly blinking, taking a few seconds to let the words get through to his grief filled mind.

He pathed a message to Z, seeing if she was up, and to see if the effects of the Wraith stunner had worn off yet.

Wraith stunners were kind of like a Zat blast. The more you got shot with them, the less of an effect they had on you. And Z, well, she was like her dad, lets put it that way.

Z jumped off the couch she had been sitting on at the shock of receiving a message.

"Jet, what the hell's going on? Where are we? And why am I covered in dust?" At the last sentence, she had started trying to rub the dust off her arms and legs, but only resulted in making the dust mix with all the grime she already had on her, causing it to become a sort of thickened paste that she had only made worse.

He quickly pathed everything they already knew to her, and the shock of it all made her fall backwards, collapsing on the couch she had just jumped up from. She began blinking rapidly, trying to process all the information she had just received from him.

He remained connected to her mind, answering all the questions she came up with.

Back in the briefing room however, Jet still hadn't answered McKay's question, why was making the scientist extremely worried. Hex, who was sitting next to him, scanned his mind briefly, and seeing what he was doing, decided to inform McKay, and thusly the others, what was happening.

"He's talking to Z," was all she said to them. Which, kind of logically resulted in the members of the expedition becoming a bit baffled.

"Z?" Queried Rodney, who was actually becoming slightly worried, and was frowning slightly. He'd known a girl when he was younger who'd used the abbreviation Z when her name was really

"Elizabeth." Hex continued his thought. "She hates her full name, and when the decision was made to only use our code names, she jumped at the opportunity."

A side glance from Rodney to look at Eliz…. Dr Weir only resulted in his ears becoming a bright shade of crimson, as she had been doing the exact same thing to him.

Silence filled the room as most of them managed to grasp the meaning of Rodney's daughter being named Elizabeth. Obviously something occurred in the future which caused them to get together.

"Your oldest is a boy though," was softly said by a shoulder length, blonde haired, blue eyed girl, who, at least to Rodney, slightly resembled Lt. Col. Samantha Carter.

"A boy?" Elizabeth asked, wondering if she was truly going to be going out with McKay in the future. After all, she was still in love with Simon, she thought, as she grasped the chain around her neck.

"Micky," Hex answered for her friend. "Short for Michael. He got hit by a stunner as well. He hasn't been hit with them enough to gain as much of a resistance against them as Z has."

Rodney was just sitting there, blank face. Oh my God. He had children. Rodney McKay, the man who hated, loathed, and utterly despised children, actually had children. Actually, that was the thought going through a lot of the expeditions minds, or at least the ones in the room.

"Any others?" John asked mildly, which managed to bring everyone's attention to him, except Jet, who was still trying to calm Z down.

A brief glance between some of the people opposite the expedition resulted in a few glances of their own being shared.

"He," Hex began, but before she could continue, was cut off by Jet returning to them.

"Excuse me Hex, but I think it's time we took a break, got something to eat, after all, I can hear McKay's stomach rumbling from here."

Everyone's attention went first to Jet, startled at then interruption when he seemed completely out of it, but then to McKay, because as soon as the sentence was finished, his stomach let out a mighty rumble that did indeed sound like it was asking, nay begging, for food.

Elizabeth's face went first to John's, who merely gave her a shoulder shrug, which drew Carson's attention, and then to Bates, who sat up on a higher level, who did exactly the same thing as Sheppard.

"Thirty minutes?" she proposed. That _would_ be more than enough time, wouldn't it?

Jet looked at his watch. "Probably more like forty five. Her ladyship has to prettify herself for seeing her parents. Come to think of it, we could all use the time to wash up. I know I do." He finished, looking at his hands, which were coated in a thin black layer of dust and grime.

At Jet's words, all the new comers looked down at their clothes. Jet could see that some of them were really embarrassed at looking like this in front of their mentors, their friends, and their family. He watched as some of them began to blush. Others just gave a sigh; after all, their family wasn't here.

"An hour then." Elizabeth decided. "After all," she began with a smirk, seeing the beginnings of a smile on John's face, "Major Sheppard still has to go to MedBay." That wiped the smile off his face!

"I already said that Cas was just resting," Jet interrupted, not really hearing the conversation, as he was being pathed by nearly all of his people, which created quite a bit of a ruckus in his head.

"She meant Major _John_ Sheppard, dumbass," Shadow retorted. Since there wasn't a McKay here, (besides Rodney, who didn't count), she had to pick up the slack a little.

"Oh. Right. Course she did." Jet said, when he finally managed to get everyone to stop pathing him at once. He decided to give them numbers, so when he called their number, then they could talk to him. Like at a delicatessen on Earth.

"My daughter's of the same rank as me," John mumbled as he got up out of his chair. "This is so not fair." He walked a few paces, and then stopped suddenly, spinning on his heel, remnants of the earlier conversation coming to the front of his mind. "You outrank me!" He hollered to Jet, who just shrugged. "How old _are_ you?"

"Just turned twenty five last month." Jet stated. It wasn't his fault he was so high up in rank. Tony and Nessie had been Lt. Col.'s before him, and since he was now in charge, by Lantean law, he had to be one also.

"Twenty five!" John shouted. "Ten years younger than me, and he outranks me!" Then he began to grumble, "This is _so_ not fair."

"Come along then laddie, get a move on. No time to waste." Carson came up behind John and started subtly moving him towards the door, which opened with a brief thought. "Or do I need to get you a gurney or a wheelchair?"

The raised eyebrow from Carson didn't go unnoticed, nor did the hesitation by John before turning around to face the door.

"I can walk Doc." No need to anger the Doctor after all, he is, 'He-Who-Controls-The-Needles.'

John continued grumbling as he walked out the door, followed by Carson, and from outside, they could see many of those in the control room, leaning in their chairs awkwardly, trying to obtain a glimpse of what was going on in the room.

"That was _definitely_ not my fault," Jet said, as he walked out of the room, followed by his people, all except Shadow, who remained behind for a few seconds to password lock the computers.

Those still inside heard a few mumbles from those who had just left, and a few seconds later Jet poked his head back round the door, and asked, "Do you want Sergeant Bates to come with us?"

Everyone was visibly startled. Here was someone who was asking for a member of security, the _leader_ of security, to accompany them. Normally, security teams or members had to be forced onto people. It was definitely different.

Elizabeth recovered swiftly, and a brief "Sergeant," had Bates walking down the steps to stand beside Jet. A nod from Jet, and a reciprocating one from Bates, a brief moment later transpired before they both left.

Shadow followed behind them a few seconds later.

Bates was going off with this group, to meet the sons and daughters of herself and her friends before she even got to know their names.

She had to admit it, she was jealous.


	19. Jason and the Children of Atlantis

Disclaimer: see chapter one

Bates had to say, to himself at most, that he was surprised, which was a relatively rare occurrence. They had actually asked for someone from the expedition to accompany them. At least now he had a valid reason for being with them, and getting to see where they had secluded themselves away in his own city, rather than doing some sneaky form of reconnaissance.

He walked down the stairs, after receiving the verbal go-ahead from Dr. Weir, and stood by Jet. He looked Jet in the eyes, and was even further surprised when Jet nodded at him, as though to give his silent seal of approval.

After carefully, but quickly, considering the possible meanings, he gave his own sharp nod, and then gestured with his head for Jet to lead the way.

He wanted to see how well this man did compared to his father in leading those who followed him. Hopefully he was better than Major Sheppard. It would be better for him to respect this man, who definitely outranked him, even if he didn't trust him.

He stood still as he walked through the doors, shocked by all the stares directed his way. Wait, they weren't directed at him, they were directed at the Colonel.

By the way their eyes were moving, their heads were shaking, and the gestures they made, he guessed they were communicating somehow, like how Jet had done back in the briefing room. He'd seen the Major, Dr. McKay and Dr. Weir do a similar thing, but he guessed that none of _them_ were gifted with anything even remotely close to telepathy.

Suddenly four people broke away from the crowd, a set of male identical twins, who looked about twenty or so, a man with hair that looked like Dr. Zelenka's, and a boy who looked a lot like one of his sergeants.

They all went over to a small pile of crates, small in number but not in height. The twins lifted the top one down, and proceeded to carry it out of the room. The other two then grabbed the bottom crate, and followed behind the others.

A few of the others began to drift away from the group now, grabbing some of the smaller boxes, and leaving the same way as the other four had gone.

Soon enough, only Jet, Hex, and Shadow remained behind with Bates, who was standing now not in shock, but in slight awe, at how quickly and quietly the whole thing had gone.

Jet had stood beside him, watching the emotions cross the older man's face, but as soon as it was just the four of them, he felt it time enough to go, so that those in the briefing room could leave.

"Come on then Sarge," he spoke suddenly. "Places to go, people to see, things to do."

"Yes Sir," Bates replied, walking off.

"Bates?" Jet sharply exclaimed.

"Sir?" Bates stopped and spun around on his heel, facing the Colonel.

"First of all Bates, it wouldn't matter if I was a Lieutenant or a General, I would never ever want to be called Sir. Second of all, unless we're in the company of some of the high rankers from Earth, I never, _ever_, want to be addressed by my rank. And third of all," he looked around as though scanning for listeners, then lowered his voice, "How do you feel about bacon and eggs?"

"Sir?" Bates asked, questioning look upon his face.

"Bates," Jet drawled, just like his father used to drawl, 'McKay'. "What did I say?" An eyebrow raised itself.

"Sorry," Bates stated, subtly drawing himself upwards, like he used to do back on Earth when he was expecting to be reprimanded.

"Bates," Jet began, then stopped himself. "Jason," he started again, and the sergeant's eyes comically lifted. Jet turned around, and walked off slowly, pausing only when it seemed that the sergeant wasn't going to follow him, then started again when he slowly walked up beside him.

There was no way he was going to miss out on something like this, Jason thought to himself. How the Colonel had known his name, or the chance of bacon and eggs. Bacon and eggs was impossible to get in the Pegasus galaxy, unless you counted the meat they got from an off world trade agreement that Bates and his team had negotiated for, or the reconstituted eggs, which tasted absolutely _nothing_ like eggs.

On a side note, Jason was extremely proud of himself and his team for that trade agreement, especially when compared to the fiasco that the Major went through with the Genii on, near enough, the same day.

He was brought back to attention when the four of them reached the transporter, and when the door slid opened, they all stepped inside.

Before anyone pressed a location, Hex spoke. "Do you swear not to inform anyone of the location of our base, unless there is an extreme emergency, such as a Wraith attack, Genii attack, or someone is seriously injured or presumed dead?" She spoke quietly, but nothing could hide the seriousness present in her voice.

Jason listened carefully. It seemed to be something important for them to be able to go somewhere without anyone knowing. But he presumed that they were doing it for the safety of all the children he had seen walk, sprint or run through the Stargate. Besides, they had given him a way out. But, _presumed_ dead?

"Presumed dead?" His mouth uttered unconsciously. His eyes widened slightly the second he said it. Shit, a slight deviation in his carefully planned day, and his mouth was disconnecting with his brain.

The one whose voice sounded like Dr. Beckett spoke now. "Yes, presumed. In cases of extreme deprivation of necessary essentials, some of us are trained to place ourselves in a sort of stasis, without a chamber. It slows down our respiration severely, our heart beats at about one a minute, and our brain waves go extremely low, and are sometimes undeterminable with Terran machines."

She even spoke like Dr. Beckett. That was kinda scary. No, actually it was _really_ scary.

"So do you?" Jet asked, his eyes scanning Jason's face. It was important that he did. It was important that they had someone to trust.

"Okay then, Sir," and at Jet's slight disapproving look, quickly changed his answer to, "Okay then, Jet." A smile beamed across Jet's face, and he turned around and faced the panel. He pulled out a side panel that Jason had never seen, let alone heard a rumour about, (and being the head of Security he heard many), swapped a few crystals around, pushed it back up, and pushed a location on the main panel.

Meanwhile, in the control room, two people simultaneously muttered, "What the hell?" even though it was in completely different languages. A flurry of keyboard clattering ensued, before Elizabeth calmly asked, "Gentlemen. Do we have a problem?"

Rodney just looked at the laptop screen for a few seconds before he muttered something under his breath.

"What was that Rodney?" Elizabeth asked, but she had a vague feeling what it was about anyway.

"I said, we've lost them. A command subroutine I've never seen before flashed up on the screen before we lost them though." Rodney explained.

"They knew we'd try to find them, even though Sergeant Bates accompanied them. Was the command Ancient or Earth based?"

"It looked like mixture of both, but many Earth languages used," came the reply from the other worker, seated at another laptop just across the way from Rodney.

"Can you decipher it?" Elizabeth asked both of them, even though she guessed only one of them would answer.

"How much time have you got, and how many linguists did we bring with us? Elizabeth, I spotted at least ten different scripts, Ancient, Chinese, Egyptian, I'm pretty sure I spotted a bit of Greek in there. The point is, they know us, and what resources we have. In about a weeks time, I might be able to give you the basics of it, but that's all." Rodney's pessimistic nature strikes again. A look of horror worked its way across his face. "Elizabeth, they'll have lived here, grown up here, with all of us. Think what they could know about us, about what each one of us can do. If they decide to lock us out of certain places or systems, there'll be nothing we can do about it."

A look of horror spread across nearly everyone faces, and Elizabeth could see people putting password locks on their computers, or even changing the codes.

"Like you said Rodney," she began abruptly, annoyed slightly with Rodney and all the others, "They know us. They know what we're like. They're trying to trust us. Obviously something severe has happened to them to come through the gate without any of _us_ with them. So perhaps we should extend the same courtesy towards them. Besides, as you also said, they've lived here their whole lives. Think about what that could mean Rodney. They know about all the places we'll go to, about the Wraith, about everything that's in Atlantis. Hell Rodney, they might even know where we can find some ZPM's."

Smiles and looks of hope began to spring up around the room, even as looks of bashfulness crossed the faces of others who had been messing with their computers.

"Think of them as allies, Rodney. They come from us," she stated as a slight blush rose across her face, then a reciprocating one from Rodney who figured out what she had been talking about. Only those who had been in the briefing room understood, those who had been left outside just shared questioning looks with each other. Elizabeth knew though, that by tomorrow, everyone would know.

"From all of us," she continued, looking about the room. "They know why we're here, exactly what we are all fighting for. And no matter what happens, we have to remember that they truly are the children of Atlantis."

**Authors Note: **I tried my best, but I wasn't entirely sure how the control room scene worked out. Let me know, okay?


	20. The Ranking System

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

Jason Bates had to say he was extremely surprised to see where he was going. The route was unfamiliar, which meant they were heading to an area the expedition team hadn't explored yet, which was making him slightly…. edgy. You never knew what was out here.

"You've been to this place before?" He couldn't help but ask.

A chuckle answered him, from all directions. Jet was standing to his right, Hex slightly behind him to his left, and Shadow ahead of them. "When we lived here, it was like a boarding school, I believe it's called. All the kids lived here. It was our community. We interacted with our parents, sure, but we ate, learned, and slept with the other kids." Jet informed him.

"Over the years," Hex continued, "Many off world survivors have been brought to our home, most of them children. The Wraith saw little need in taking them," she finished with a frown.

Shadow continued, "We take them in, teach them, help them, protect them, and in return, they get the opportunity to see what the galaxy could be like without the Wraith. Most of them join our military, so that they can, in turn, help others that need it."

Jesus Christ, they let aliens join the military! "You let aliens join Earth military?" he asked, slight scorn filling his voice.

They heard it, and with slight reproach Hex informed him, "We let them join _Atlantis_ military. We weren't born on Earth, Bates, we were born right here, on Atlantis. This is our home, and we make…made the rules."

Hex speed walked off ahead of the other three, making sure to bump into Jason's shoulder, and Jet looked straight at Jason. "You had to make her mad? When all the rooms are sorted out, I'm so sleeping on the couch!"

Jason's eyebrows raised up high. "She's your…?"

"Girlfriend," Jet answered wistfully. "It would have been..." he trailed off noticing Shadow's ears perking up, and yelled loudly, "Shadow!"

It was almost comical. She jumped a foot into the air, spun around, eyes wide open, and a blush starting to cover her neck.

"Why don't you go ahead and check on Hex for me? Make sure she doesn't blow anything up?" Jet suggested.

"Yes Sir!" Christ almighty, the only thing she was missing was the salute! Jet rolled his eyes, making sure Shadow saw the move, and she replied with a sarcastic salute and a "Later Jet", before running off to catch up with Hex.

Bates made a questioning look, and nodded his head in the direction Shadow had run off. Jet correctly interpreted it.

"She knows I hate it, everyone does. But they've decided that since I got made the leader, they have to show a solid front. Apparently it's something I'm going to have to put with in front of your lot," Jet explained.

That made sense, Jason thought. "What do you mean, _voted_ the leader? You're a Lt. Col. Aren't you automatically the leader?"

They walked slowly onwards, turned a corner, and had walked forward a few more steps before Jet spoke.

"You heard Hex say, Atlantian military, correct?" At Jason's nod, he continued. "You need to understand the basics first. At the moment, you guys have managed to send a message through to Earth, right?" Jet didn't wait for an answer, he already knew it. "What you, what maybe no-one except for Dr. Weir knows, is that since the Atlantis expedition was expected to be a one-way mission, the President stated the Atlantis was to basically become a colony. Non-frat regs were, sorry _are_, abolished. Atlantis was to become completely self-sufficient."

Jason was stunned. Atlantis had colony status? Self-sufficient? Christ on a stick! He was….God, he didn't have the words to explain it!

"Do you want me to continue?" Jet had to ask, Bates was looking a little wide-eyed, and on closer examination, appeared a little green around the gills.

Jason had to nod. If this were only the beginning, it would take a long time to get everything pieces at a time. He had to hear all of it now, if only so that if he upchucked, it would only be once…hopefully.

"You heard that my dad is Major Sheppard, right?" Jason gave a small chuckle, which left a grin upon his face. Even from the back of the room, he'd heard Sheppard's grumbles about the fact that his kid was higher in rank than he was.

Jet noticed the grin, and correctly ascertained what had been the cause. "You think it's weird? How do you think I feel?" They stopped outside a pair of large silvery blue doors.

"Anyway, over many years, many different people came to seek refuge in Atlantis. Atlantis grew, and became a true city once more. Children were born, were raised, others were refugees, but they all knew what we were doing here. I diverge.

"My dad, as the ranking officer, learned about the colony status we'd been given. Sporadically, we'd gain contact with Earth. New people, new technologies, promotions granted, but still, we had colony status. Dad created the Atlantis Defence Force, or ADF as our insignia shows, instead of USAF. The ranks were an amalgamation of various Earth and Lantean rankings, so were the symbols.

"Being raised 'on base', so to say, we learned young. Weapons, science, everything was ingrained at a young age. We knew what we wanted to do, and by God, we were going to do it.

"I've no idea where the group designations came from. The Dragons is like your officers, but you can specialise in something, given you the title of 'Specialist Dragon'. You also get different insignia. Komodos are like the enlisted, but you can't specialise."

Jet stopped. "What was the original question again?" He couldn't believe he'd forgotten!

Jason looked at him, stunned. "How did you get voted to be the leader?" He couldn't believe Jet had forgotten!

"Right. Sorry. Yeah, it was designed so that at least a Lt. Col. was in charge. If I was to be in charge, by Lantean law, I had to be made Lt. Col. So, by group decision, I was. Out of the five Majors, I was the one with the most combat experience. I was close to making it on my own anyway."

Jason was gob smacked. "So, you're actually a Major?" Bates had to say, at least to himself, he was disappointed. He was kinda hoping the Lieuten…Ma…Jet would put Major Sheppard into his place.

"Nope. I meant it when I said I was close." Jet looked around, and then leaned into Bates slightly. "The commander was waiting for all of us to be in one place before he made it a surprise. I knew, but he wanted to make it a surprise for everyone else. It would have been today, but the Wraith showed up, as you saw."

Okay, he took it all back. Still he had loads of questions. He looked at his watch. Twenty-five minutes had gone by. "Didn't you want to take a shower or something?"

Jet's eyes glazed over. A few seconds later, Jason started to get worried, but before he could contact Dr. Beckett, Jet's eyes became clear. "Nah, it's okay, they are all being used at the moment. I doubt I'll get one before I kip down for the night. It was mostly so that everyone else had time for a shower and something to eat. Trust me, you don't want to see a hungry McKay!" He finished with a laugh.

Jason's eyes crinkled with suppressed laughter. "I've been dealing with the original remember. Undiluted with the mother's genes. So, Dr. McKay does have kids then?" He vaguely remembered something about someone wanted to 'prettify' them self.

"Four. Micky, Z, Deuce, and Rommie. All of them babble like their dad, and have hypoglycaemia. Each and every one of them is allergic to citrus as well. It's made for some…. interesting off world missions."

Christ, _four_ McKay's! "I feel for you man," Jason said, patting Jet's shoulder. "Are any of them military?" Surely McKay wouldn't let any of _his_ children join the military? Right?

"Three of them, Micky, Z, and Deuce. Rommie would have been joining today."

Shit on a stick! Three, no _four_ McKay's in the military. He could see it now… With a shudder, he brought himself out of the trance he'd nearly put himself into. Jason looked at his watch. Thirty minutes had gone by.

He remembered, licking his lips swiftly, that he'd been promised something. His stomach rumbled.

"Ah, yes. I did promise you food didn't I?" Jet uttered, a grin upon his face, upon hearing the rumble, which was quickly echoed by one from his own stomach.

The doors opened with the passcode from Jet, Jason becoming surprised at how the doors opened with no apparent movement or signal from Jet, and they both walked in, the tantalising smells of freshly cooked bacon and eggs wafting around them and engulfing the pair, drawing them inwards.

Wow, I'm being so gracious! Chapter are coming in on a semi-regular basis, aren't you all happy? I have to tell you all though, I'm shocked at how many people have read this story. At my last count, I think it was somewhere near 2000 hits! Oh, and only one person so far has guessed who the parents of some of the kids are. I know, I know, I've basically told you all who quite a few of them are the children of, but some of them, well. It's no fun if you can't, or rather don't, guess.


	21. Bacon and Eggs

Disclaimer: see chapter one

The carpet, (or at least what passed for carpet in here, was his first thought as his step became bouncy), was emerald green. His second was that everything was dusty. His third, as his internal sirens began flashing, was that there appeared to be a hell of a lot more people in here than he'd originally thought had come through the Stargate.

"Exactly how many people do you have here, now?" He asked Jet, as they walked quietly to the kitchen area, bypassing the dust sheet covered computer access terminals and the couches where the youngest lay sleeping.

Jet closed his eyes briefly, and received the answer from Deuce, who had been the one to do a head count. "One hundred and twenty six, including myself, aged between four and twenty five." It should have been one hundred and twenty eight, dammit.

Jason's eyes grew wider slightly with amazement. Christ, that was nearly the same number that the expedition totalled. "How the hell do you have enough provisions?" he nearly yelled. A few of the children on the closer couches stirred, and Bates froze. The children fell back to sleep, and he moved again.

"We just came out of a siege, Jason," Jet explained. "We had to have had enough food to get us through, at least for a while. Granted, we may only have enough food for a few more weeks, but all that means is that we'll have to start our trade network again."

Okay, now _this_ was interesting; Jason pondered as he followed behind Jet as he walked up some stairs to a service hatch, and grabbed a plate of, oh my God, bacon and eggs. They smelled absolutely _divine_.He followed him as he grabbed some cutlery, and watched as Jet squeezed some ketchup on his bacon. Jason didn't bother, he only liked brown sauce.

They walked down the stairs on the other side of the platform and went towards an elongated table where a freshly showered Shadow was sitting. They sat down, and Jet began to eat his food.

Jason eat some of his eggs, watched as Jet eat about twice as much as he did in the same time, thinking that perhaps Jet had grown up eating dinner with Dr. McKay, and asked, in an overly casual tone, "Trade network?"

Shadow frowned. Jet had already mentioned that? He wasn't going to…He wouldn't…Would he?

Jason spotted Shadow's frown. Perhaps that was _too_ casual?

"That's our little secret," was all he said, as he waved his fork around in a circle, motioning to everyone who was currently eating.

Jason looked around the area. There were several long tables that looked to seat about twenty people each, but only two were being used, the table he, Jet and Shadow were using, and another that looked almost filled.

Movement from the left caught his eye. A woman with long brunette hair was walking towards the table, carrying her own plate of bacon and eggs. He noticed, when she put it down, that it had brown sauce on it. That wasn't fair! Where the hell did she get it?

The woman noticed his glance towards the brown sauce, and reached into a pocket. A brief look of indecision crossed her face before, from her pocket, she pulled out a couple of sachets of brown sauce and handed them to him.

Jason grabbed the offering, and immediately opened the two packets, squirting the sauce all over the food. He snatched up a piece of the sauce-covered bacon and ate it, not bothering with his fork, his eyes closing, a look of bliss emerging upon his face. He swallowed the bacon and opened his eyes.

He blushed briefly as he saw their stares, but soon indulgent looks rose across their faces.

"We ran out of brown sauce weeks ago," Jason explained.

"We know," came the mystery woman's reply. "It's just, we haven't seen you do that in nearly fifteen years."

"Oh," was all he could say. He _died_? Okay, it wasn't that much of a shock, he knew that coming to Atlantis was basically a one-way thing and that he could have died within ten minutes of getting here, but they knew when he was going to die? When he _had_ died?

Jet's plate was nearly empty, as was Shadow's and the other woman's. He ate everything on his plate quickly, silently savouring all of it; after all, he never knew when he'd get the chance to eat fresh bacon and eggs ever again. Hell, he'd gotten fresh food before Jet's own father would have. Bonus!

"I'm Z," she spoke, just as he put a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

Sweet Jesus, _this_ was McKay's eldest daughter? He choked, and Z frowned slightly. Someone from the other table walked over and placed a glass of juice in front of him. He grabbed it, and gulped it down, silently expressing his surprise, by the rising of his eyebrows, at how good it tasted. Sort of an extremely sweet strawberry with, he sniffed it, was that...vanilla?

"You okay?" Jet asked. He didn't want the man to choke himself to death whilst with him. The others would probably come after him and lynch him. He'd be hung, drawn, quartered, eighthed, sixteenthed….

"Fine," Jason said, as he waved a hand slightly, "Just fine." He coughed slightly. "Just...wasn't expecting to see a child of McKay's right now."

A small frown covered Z's face as an equally small snort came from Shadow's direction.

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting to see you either, Bates," she retorted. "I would have thought Jet would have brought someone else with him, someone less…. suspicious."

"Hey!" came the loud input from Jet. "I brought who I wanted to bring, no more, no less. That's final."

A shrug of the shoulders from Z soon followed, which made the strangely colored and bejeweled double bars on her jacket catch his eye. "You're a Captain?" he yelped, shock filling his voice.

"Yeah, so what?" she replied, anger starting to appear in her speech, as she stood up, pushing her chair back.

"Sorry," he immediately said. "I mean it's one thing to hear that a progeny of McKay's joined the military, but it's another thing to see it!"

She sat back down, and picked up her fork, eating the rest of her eggs.

"Then I guess you'll be even more shocked when I say that I'm a medical doctor."

Holy crap! "The daughter of the man who says medicine is about as much of a science as voodoo is a doctor?" Double holy crap!

She just smirked the McKay smirk.

"A lot of us are doctors at something or another," Shadow stated, "But Z and Daemon are our only medical doctors."

"You're a doctor as well?" Jason asked. Christ, this was really getting to be too much.

"Doctor of engineering, specifically aquatic and sub aquatic vehicles." Shadow informed him.

"What about you, then Jet?" Jason asked, turning towards him. Please, _please_, _please, please, please_ don't be a doctor!

"Professor of engineering, specifically aviation, Doctor of physics, specifically mechanics."

Okay, I really should _not_ have bothered asking. Jason had a relatively high IQ of 120, which compared to quite a few of the other grunts was really high, and he didn't want anyone to know about, but he thought that it dropped a few points in light of what he learned about the others. Putting it in simpler terms, he felt stupid.

Okay, I hope the Professor/Doctor talk wasn't too O.T.T. It wasn't, was it? I mean, they grew up in a city basically full of genius's. Or is it genii? Geniuses? I never can tell.

I am hoping that some of the items mentioned will make you start pondering some things, like, how did they get those doctorates? Frankly, I'm pondering it also.


	22. ByPlay

DISCLAIMER: see chapter one

All the grub had been eaten and the dishes taken away for cleaning. Daemon, who had led his small team of kitchen staff to provide the delicious food, had snatched away some of the team before they could even try to leave for kitchen duty.

The others, ever thankful that, at least for now, they had managed to escape kitchen duty, left as quickly as possible, some going to have a quick kip, others following Jet and Jason as they left to continue the briefing.

Jet briefly scratched the nape of his neck, as it was starting to tickle a bit. Maybe he needed a hair-cut. Who knows?

Behind him, he could faintly hear Z muttering under her breath, and starting to gasp. He also heard the unmistakable sound of a paper bag being opened, and the gasps started to become deep breaths.

He saw Jason look at him, eyebrow raised. "Four McKay's, remember?" A.K.A. We've been around four children of McKay for all of our lives, and we know what leads to what, and near enough all of us have some sort of item that could help save a McKay when they're having an attack, accidentally eaten some form of citrus…

Amazing what you can fit into three little words, isn't it!

Jason started to recognise the area of the city they were entering. He hadn't even noticed the corridors they had been walking through. He must really been knocked for six about everything Jet had told him for him to not have noticed where they were.

They started to enter the embarkation area through one of the many corridors that seemed to lead into the area. He could see several of his marines, (well _technically_ they were Sheppard's but Sheppard didn't need to know _that_), around the room and watched as they raised their guns slightly, only dropping them once they noticed him drifting behind Jet.

He followed Jet up to the main debriefing room. Apparently they were changing rooms. He just hoped someone bothered to inform the others.

"Wait, I've got them! Had to try and be sneaky didn't they? Well, I've got you now!" Rodney loved a challenge, when the end result wasn't: Rodney does something wrong world go boom!!!

Elizabeth's head appeared over his shoulder to look at the laptop. "What have you got Rodney?"

He blushed. Only slightly! But still, he blushed. And from the hidden smiles he could see from those who could, in turn, see his face, he knew this would be around the base in no time at all.

How was he supposed to _not_ blush? He found out he had kids with the woman, would have kids…..whatever. Thing is, those kids are on the same base as him, and he hadn't even, you know, with Elizabeth. And now he had grown up kids. Well, at least he skipped the annoying stage. With all the dirt and the mud and the grass and the blowing of noses and the cleaning of scrapes and the ………

Dammit he'd missed all those stages! Watching his children grow up and become the people they were today. In the future. Whatever.

"Rodney?" Elizabeth turned her head towards him, the tip of her nose brushing against his cheek. His warm cheek. She jumped backwards slightly. He was blushing. She coughed.

"Sorry about that Rodney." Okay, now she was blushing. She was the head of whole Atlantis expedition dammit. She was supposed to be stone; cold, hard, and near enough unbreakable. And yet she blushed like a ninth grader talking to her first crush. What the hell was wrong with her? Just because they had children in the future of that time-line, it didn't mean they would get together or have children in this time-line. No matter what she felt about him.

"No, no, my fault, should have been paying attention. Listen, I figured out a way to track them via their power usage. We know they used one of the transporters at 21:30 Atlantis standard time. I, and by that I mean Zalunka and myself,"

"Zelenka," came Radek's voice from further behind Elizabeth.

"Whatever," was the reply from Rodney.

A string of curse words in Czech followed, only a few of which she recognised, as knowing the swear-words wasn't really a necessity at the negotiating table, only when at the local bars did that deficiency make itself obvious, as she had found herself unable to understand half of what people were saying to her. They concluded with a faint, "Why do I bother?" and a frazzled Czech running his hands though his hair, making it stand on end even more.

She managed to concentrate her attention back on Rodney in time to spot the smile disappear from his face. "What?"

"The power signals. Look!" He brought up a map of Atlantis. "Have you ever seen a hackers diversion map?" Rodney looked at her.

"You expect me to have seen one of these 'maps'?" Her left eyebrow was rapidly reaching her hairline.

He floundered for a moment. "Er, well…no. Just a general comment. I mean sometimes they're shown on movies and t.v. when one of the characters is a hacker or is chasing a hacker. That's all. I swear. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Rodney." Her eyebrow dropped. He was starting to hyperventilate.

"But sometimes they don't show them correctly. I mean they use refraction patterns instead of…

"Rodney." She put her hand on his shoulder.

"But crystal patterns are…… much more…… effective." He turned to look up at her, his own eyebrow starting to raise. "Elizabeth." A statement. Better. "What was I saying?" he genuinely looked lost.

"Hacker diversion maps?" Best to get him back on track and not think about how cute he looked at the moment. Damn, she thought it!

"Ah, right." The fingers raised. "Basically, it likes bouncing a signal off a reflector without loosing clarity of signal or loss of power." He brought up a map of Atlantis. "See here, this red dot is the transporter they used. Watch what happened."

The dot blinked out and twenty dots all around Atlantis blinked into view. Those dots subsequently blinked out, and at least a hundred came back into view. Some of them blinked out and others blinked into view.

"We have no way of knowing exactly where they went." He sounded dejected.

"It doesn't matter Rodney." She patted his shoulder. "They know all of us remember. They know what we're going to do before we even realise there's a problem." His hand reached up and folded over hers, then slowly patted her hand. Her other hand went up to rest on his opposite shoulder.

It took a few seconds for them to realise what had happened. They simultaneously froze.

Elizabeth reacted first. She pulled away, almost reluctantly. "I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee. You want one?"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved his hand towards the laptop that still had dots blinking away like a Christmas tree's fairy lights. "I'm just going to..." She nodded then walked away, the people who had been watching the by-play vanishing in the blink of an eye.

((Remember readers, gossip is the only thing to reach the speed of light naturally, other than light, of course.))

((P.S. The next chapter is slightly longer than normal, and will hopefully make up for not having written for, how long is it now?))


	23. Coffee and Meetings

DISCLAIMER: see chapter one

Peter Grodin had just looked up from taking his first sip of his latest mug of coffee when he spotted them walking through the corridor towards the stairs. He had been the first to see them, but others had spotted movement from the marines, and with the impending Wraith attack, and possible invasion, weren't being too careful.

The one who led the bunch of people was the Major's son, according to rumour, and, with the colour of the man's hair, could only surmise that his mother was Teyla, although how that had come about, would come about, whatever! That was why he hated dealing with time travellers, you could never get your tenses right! Although the way Stargate personnel travelled, it wouldn't be long before someone invented the correct tenses!

To the side of the man walked Sergeant Bates, presumably assigned to watch over the group whilst they were in the city, as he was in charge of Atlantis' security, although the way he was behaving seemed to be more friendly and less guard dog, an unusual appearance for the Sergeant.

An extremely unusual group followed them, up the stairs and into the main briefing room. One of them, a female, was breathing in and out of a paper bag, and it took no second guesses to think about whose child she could be. The only question was who was the mother?

A few seconds elapsed, and then it hit him at the speed of a shooting bullet. Elizabeth! That was why they were acting like that earlier. The blushes, the touches, the glances. They got together in the time-line the kids were from. They weren't together now, there was no mistake about that, from the way they had reacted in each other's presence other. Bloody Hell, imagine meeting your children before you had even done the deed.

The click-clacking of the keys behind him hadn't even paused during the groups re-entrance. Rodney hadn't even noticed the arrival of his daughter.

He spared a thought. The group had moved to a different briefing room. He took a glimpse around to Elizabeth's office, only to find it bare. Rodney was the only member of the Atlantis team who had been in the meeting earlier that was still here, and, as he hadn't noticed…

He sighed slightly, noticing the amount of concentration Rodney was putting into his work, and opened up a com-line to Elizabeth. He never noticed the slight fault in the click-clack rhythm at Elizabeth's name.

The mess hall was starting to empty. Second shift had been off for nearly two hours, and most people were going to other places to socialise. Elizabeth nodded to a few people who glanced up when they saw her enter the room, but following their reply, immediately began to continue their conversations, in a lower volume this time.

Which only led her to believe they were talking about her, Rodney, her **and** Rodney, or the time travellers. And from the small amount she overheard when passing by, it was the time travellers, thank God. She didn't know if she could bear to hear what the latest rumours between the two of them where, following that incident in the control room.

Elizabeth had just placed three carafes of coffee, a good few mugs (mere cups would never be able to hold the sheer amount of coffee either she or Rodney drank in one sitting), loads of sugar sachets and those little milk cartons onto a large tray. Attempting to pick it up, she paused, and called over Lieutenant Ford, who had just had something to eat and was leaving to go back to the briefing.

She explained the situation, and he picked up the tray and moved out of the way of the queue forming behind her, placing the tray on a table nearby. She grabbed another tray from the pile, and placed quite a few sandwiches on the tray, remembering John's fascination with the meat that tasted remarkably like turkey, a couple of pieces of fruit they had found on another planet, but was described as delicious by the Athosians, and a few of the ration packs that Rodney liked to eat.

She picked up the tray, and began to motion to the Lieutenant for him to follow, but before she could even take five steps, the comm. in her ear opened up.

She stopped, placing the tray down on the table, and answered the link. Ford had been lucky enough not to have even managed to pick up the tray before she got the link, so luckily there wasn't any spilt coffee from the sudden halt.

She heard the explanation, and told Peter to contact anyone else who was in the briefing room earlier to inform them of the room change, informing him that she would tell Lieutenant Ford herself as they were standing in the same room.

She explained the situation to the Lieutenant, and they picked up the trays. She was thankful that they hadn't been somewhere along the route where there was nowhere she could have placed the tray to answer the call.

They started to walk out the room, and due to the noise levels in the cafeteria, Aiden was the only one fortunate enough to hear the rare occurrence.

"Fuck", he heard from Dr. Weir. It had taken a few minutes for her to catch on that she had specifically gotten food for Rodney.

The Lieutenant's eyebrows had lifted at her expletive, and never lowered anytime along their journey to the main briefing room.

The group had been waiting for a few minutes in the briefing room before a thought crossed Jet's mind.

"Did anyone send them a message to tell them we were moving here?"

And from the looks shared about the room, no-one had.

Suddenly, the doors to the room opened, Rodney walking in slowly, although his face was slightly red, which they took to mean he had run here and decided to walk in, trying to save face.

"Sorry I'm late", he started, before seeing that he was the first one of his team to even enter the room. "Oh. Right then. I'll just be over here." Rodney walked over to where he normally sat and parked his arse, turning slightly red again.

It took him a few seconds to notice the girl staring at him, a paper bag clasped in her hand, and wow, didn't she look a lot like Elizabeth. Sure the hair was darker, and longer, and slightly wavy, but hell if he wasn't looking at what he now realised was his daughter. Except for her eyes. They were a lot like his. And as that thought bolted past, it decided to come back and whack him on the head with a sledgehammer.

His daughter. _His_ daughter. His _daughter_. His and _Elizabeth's_ daughter. He felt slightly faint.

She was just watching him. What did she see when she saw him? Did she see Dr. Rodney McKay, astro-physicist extraordinaire, or did she see a father, or even a daddy? He probably would never get to here himself being called daddy, he thought to himself.

For years, he'd been thinking he'd never have children. And then suddenly, out of the blue, he'd gotten children. Children with Elizabeth. A woman he'd had an ever so slight crush on for the few months.

His thought train was derailed when the doors opened again, (when had they closed?), and Elizabeth herself walked in, followed by Lieutenant Ford, carrying, was that, coffee?

They had hardly put their trays down when Rodney swooped in, grabbing one of the carafes, a mug, and loads of sugar sachets, with only one or two milk containers.

He spotted a few ration packs on the other tray, and seeing the other food offerings to be fruit and those strange turkey like sandwiches Major Sheppard favoured, took the presence of the ration packs to mean they were solely for him.

He took both of the ration packs, one being chicken, the other beef, and opened the chicken one taking a huge mouthful, and whilst chewing, started to make his latest mug of coffee for the day, and his first one of the evening.

Evening on Atlantis started at 21:00, with 'midnight' being at 30:00, or 0:00, and he hadn't had a mug of coffee since 20:45. It was now 22:00, so yes, this was his first mug of the evening, and looking at the faces of the group across from him, knew it would be the last.

God, Elizabeth! Rodney diverted his eyes from the woman sitting across from him to Elizabeth, seeing her studying the woman as the woman studied the both of them. Elizabeth's eyes were opened slightly more than normal, betraying their shock at seeing the woman sitting across from them. His daughter truly was beautiful. Had to get it from Elizabeth and some sort of latent genes in him, because him, not so much of the beauty, more of the unseen handsomeness.

During his unheard monologue, the rest of the Atlantis team entered the room in various fashions, the most common one, however, being red faced. As they sat down, conversations quietened down, until silence was all that could be heard, and watched as the woman, Elizabeth and Rodney stared at each other.

A few minutes later, and with no-one moving a muscle, the sudden movement across the room from Rodney startled him, as another woman, Hex if he recalled correctly, nudged his daughter in the side with her elbow. He barely managed to stifle a laugh as she automatically elbowed the other female back.

The nudge however, ended the unconscious staring contest the three of them had entered into. The slamming of the elbow had ended the recalling of the past, the funerals, her mother's a month before her father's, both of them buried in the apple grove where the group had spent the last seven years, hiding from the Wraith. The coffins being lowered into the ground, the flowers thrown on top, the dirt silently flowing in on top of the wooden cases. Daemon holding her softly as she had cried at their graveside. Engulfing her in his empathy, his love.

As he was doing now. His hand had slid into hers; gently holding as she grasped the lifeline he held out to her, his emotions reaching through the bond they shared.

The room was silent. She plucked up the courage to say something. "Hey." She swallowed hard. That's all she could say when facing her parents again. "I'm Z." That was not a stutter; she merely needed to take a deep breath. After one word.

She could do this, she could do this, she couldn't do this. She got up, Daemon still holding her hand, and left the room, Daemon following her, still holding her hand. Rodney and Elizabeth both rose simultaneously, seeking to follow her, when from across the room, Jet spoke.

"She needs time. She watched you both die, watched them bury you. She's never forgotten." They sat down, faces paling, and Rodney reached to take a gulp from his mug, forgetting that he'd emptied it minutes earlier.

"We're dead? I mean, we died? Going to die?" Rodney's voice managed to produce some noise, and turned it into some audible, but it was still several notes above his normal pitch. "I mean, it's not like I expected to live forever, but, we're _dead_?"

"Seven years ago, our time, February and March were, quite possibly, the worst months for us. We lost five of the Leaders, we had to move to Beta site, we lost so much. We only had our own people from then on." Hex was reflective almost. Her words brought the entire group to pause. They could almost see the attacks, the funerals, the aftermath.

The room was completely silent. John, Aiden, hell, anyone in the room who was military or had been, knew that one day you could be alive and the next day dead, but this was up in your face confirmation. Most people never knew. Now these two important people, important in so many ways, knew how it could end.


	24. Negotiations

DISCLAIMER: see chapter one

22:05 Atlantis Standard Time (AST)

The room was filled with silence. What could they say? It was Shadow, with all of her practicalness that brought the meeting back to what they needed to do.

"The addition of over one hundred people, a large proportion of them being children and teenagers, will severely tax both of our resources. Therefore, we would like to use several of our previous contacts to replenish our resources, and we would also like to check on the status of the base." Her Scottish burr was almost unnoticeable, unless, of course, you had grown up around it all your life, like Carson.

"Dr. McKay can give you an update on the condition of the city after the meeting. However, if you need to go off base, we ask that you take one of the teams here with you." Elizabeth spoke up. She had to gain control of the situation. She was the Leader of the Atlantis base, she was in charge. She was in control of her feelings; they were not in control of her.

"No offence, Dr. Weir," came the voice of Hex, "but you've barely managed to scratch the surface, hell, forget that, you haven't even _managed_ to scratch the surface yet. This is our city, our home, and having lived here for about twenty years, we know significantly more about this place than you." She didn't mean to sound deriding, seriously.

The fact that they had located that container in the wall and had managed to disguise their position from Rodney and Radek had convinced her of that detail. But she needed to gain some control of the situation.

"And about the joint operations?" She watched as the others began to contemplate that, some of them leaning over to another's ears, and her own team watched with slightly gaping expressions that she had so easily capitulated on such a matter.

"We pick who comes on what missions with us, as we know more about the situations we'll be entering. We'll use our own equipment, but your teams will have to use their own." Hex had not lived in the same city as Dr. Weir for several years without picking up some of her tricks. If she thought she was facing a losing argument, she would fall back, recuperate, and be stronger on the other issue. The fact that they were going to propose joint operations anyway meant that it was one less argument to be fought at a later date.

"Very well, but at least four members of this base must go with you on all missions." She had to start high, she knew that she would at least get one, possibly two, but she had to make it seem as thought hey were bargaining her down.

"One only, and if we deem the mission to personal or if a person cannot be found that matches the required capabilities, none of your team will be accompanying us." Hello! She had done something similar to this with Dr. Weir several years ago, when practicing for her Earth Government and Law exam.

"Three, and you have to provide prior mission reports before going, as well as a list of personnel suitable for going on any missions you have planned." Elizabeth thought the bargaining was going well, while the rest of her team, (barring Teyla, who was a very skilled trader and bargainer), were slightly in awe of both Elizabeth's and Hex's skills.

"Two maximum, no prior mission reports unless we deem them necessary, examples being of entering enemy outposts or strongholds, but we agree to the list." Hex hadn't wanted to consent to the list of personnel, but Shadow had thought it would be a good compromise, and put them in the others 'good books'.

"Agreed." Elizabeth declared. She had gotten more than she thought they would give, positive that they wouldn't agree to the list.

"Agreed." Hex confimed. She had been positive Dr. Weir wouldn't agree to the no prior mission reports, but supposed the agreement of the list had taken up the slack.

"First order of business then is food," rose up the voice of Shadow. "We know of a few ways to obtain food from this planet itself, but we'd like to have several of the base personnel to help us organise the hydroponics and allotment areas."

"Wait a minute, we have hydroponics areas? And allotments?" Of course that was Rodney's voice rising above the commotion that has started with Shadow's words. Only his voice could reach those tones and still be audible. "How the hell did we miss those?"

"Probably because you were looking for things like ZPM's, Alpha sites, ZPM's, alternate energy sources, trading partners that won't turn around and stab you in the back, and, oh yeah, ZPM's!" Hex seriously didn't mean to be this disparaging, but three days without sleep will do things to a girl. It wasn't the longest she'd gone without sleep, but her own people knew how to handle her when she got like this. These ones didn't.

A hand on Hex's elbow calmed her down slightly, and Shadow spoke up again. "We'd like to request that some of your personnel join us in the embarkation area, as well as any of your scientists that express an interests in such an endeavour, at 09:00 tomorrow, AST."

"Of course, the Major and Sergeant Bates will be more than willing to organise personnel to assist you, and Dr. McKay, (can't call him Rodney in public), will be happy to locate any scientists who may wish to accompany you."

The looks that came across both Jason's and John's face were identical, their not-exactly-hatred for the other clearly showing across their faces, but being military knew they had to suck it up. Besides, it was for a good cause. Sure, it may take a while to get food back, but it would be worth it to finally have some good food for once. Not that the food they got wasn't good, (especially those turkey-like sandwiches he'd been able to find), but something that resembled food from home would be good.

Rodney, however, shot a look towards Elizabeth, plainly asking why he had to do it. Elizabeth just returned his look with a glare, practically daring him to speak up. He declined the offer. Smart man.


	25. Speaking of the Future

DISCLAIMER: see chapter one. Spoilers for Letters From Pegasus onwards.

22:20 Atlantis Standard Time (AST)

With the negotiations over with for the time being, conversations turned to more pressing matters.

"In the past, the Wraith arrived at Atlantis passing by the last Lagrangian Defence Platform. We'd like to send a team to repair the platform, in an attempt to hold off the Wraith for as long as possible." Shadow appeared to be the one leading the briefing at the moment. We'll be sending our long-range weapons expert, as well as our second engineer. We'd like to send Dr. McKay, Dr. Grodin, and Sergeant Miller with them."

"Wait a minute, why not Sheppard?" Of course that was Rodney, exactly who else could it possibly have been?

"Because, if you'd let me finish," the Scottish burr was stronger now, her irritation with the interruption clearly showing, enabling the entire room to hear it, "we'd like to send the Gen..Major on a different mission, if that's alright with you, of course?" That was a rhetorical question, and if he dared answer it, she would so be putting the smack down on his arse. He didn't dare. He'd heard Carson when he was in one of his rants, and if his daughter, who they were all assuming this was, was anything like him then, no thank you!

"Of course I have no objections. I mean, why would I have objections? We're all in the same boat here, right?" _Please don't kill me_, came the very loudly thought finishing message, heard by those of the group who had telepathic capabilities. Not that everyone needed to know that little fact.

"Good," came the response, not from Shadow, but from Hex, who was looking towards Rodney with an ever so slightly feral look in her eyes. Rodney subsequently moved her chair back minutely.

"From what I can't discern, you have already contacted Earth?" Shadow spoke up again, not giving Hex the chance to speak.

"Yes, we did that yesterday. Did Earth receive our message?" Elizabeth was the one who spoke, and the entire Atlantis team seemed to lean forward simultaneously.

Shadow answered, "They did indeed." The Atlantis team seemed to take a deep breath out all at once, and relieved grins crossed many of their faces, knowing that no matter what happened to them, Earth at least had received some sort of warning about the enemy they could face.

"In approximately 5.5 days, Earth will send a team of Marines through the Stargate, bearing rail guns designed for the ship Prometheus. They will carry word that Atlantis must hold down the fort for four days until the Daedalus, Earth's newest battle cruiser arrives.

"However, the leader of the Marines, a," Shadow paused her to glance at the laptop in front of her, "Colonel Dylan Everett, will relieve Dr Weir of her command of Atlantis base."

Shocked looks and the harsh in-taking of breath were all that could be heard. A small smile had appeared on Jason Bates face, but that smile soon disappeared once Shadow began speaking again.

"As well as bringing the rail guns, he also brought eight Naquada-enhanced nuclear warheads, which he used stupidly. He had them put the warheads in the direct path of the Wraith armada, and the Wraith then decided to send a few asteroids ahead of them, blowing up the warheads and making Atlantis base completely blind to the actions of the enemy. Then the first wave of darts came, and the few drones that Atlantis base had left had to be used to defend the city. So, because of him, the city was nearly lost."

The room was silent, and again they could almost see in their minds how this played out. People dying everywhere, Wraith scoop-beams carrying away their people, buildings engulfed in fire.

"Well, obviously the city wasn't lost, because here you all are," came the voice of John Sheppard, who had been trying to determine how all this was going to affect his city. Yes damn it, she was _his_ and he would defend her to the very end.

"Well observed Major." Shadow again. She seemed to be talking a lot in this meeting, when she hadn't planned it.

"I try," returned the Major's voice, wittily, his smile rising across his face.

"The Daedalus arrived, commanded by Colonel Steven Caldwell, bringing with him a ZPM." Shadow tried to continue but the exclamations of joy from across the room prevented her.

A minute or so later, the room had quietened enough for her to continue. "The shield was powered up, and the Daedalus discovered alternate methods of destroying the Wraith hive ships once their ordinance proved to be having little effect."

The room erupted in yelps and screams of joy; the threat to the city would be over! Outside the room, everyone ever so conveniently nearby heard the commotion, but hearing no weapons fire, decided it could only be good news.

((Slightly shorter than normal, but the next few chapters should be longer))


End file.
